Abstract:

of religion and secularism in Turkey (Turner and Zengin Arslan, 2013). In this article, I analyze the state’s approach to Alevism in reference to the concept of ‘management of religion.’ This article suggests that the Republican regime recognized Alevism by dissolving it into a secular identity. In this sense it did not indeed recognize Alevis with their religious identities. During the Justice and Development Party period, the ‘Alevi opening’ process was initiated as a part of the EU integration process. However, the article argues, in this process the government had an approach of defining Alevism from its own perspective, rather than recognizing them in their own terms. The state wanted to define Alevism through and in reference to Sunni İslam, and by utilizing a series of strategies of governmentality, such as producing a written Alevi culture with the leadership of the Diyanet

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