Articulating and aggregating sectarian interests: the case of Alevis in Turkey

Official URL: http://risc01.sabanciuniv.edu/record=b1558772 (Table of Contents)

This dissertation provides insight into the dynamics of the inclusion of the Alevi community into the political processes in Turkey. By focusing on the actors and the strategies of Alevi interest politics in Turkey and Germany, the dissertation discusses how the changing political opportunity structures and the heterogeneous and fragmented collective identity of the Alevis shape the articulation and aggregation of their shared interests. Adopting a transnational perspective, it argues that the study of the networks established between the domestic Alevi interest groups, and the Alevi migrant communities and organizations located in Europe are just as important as the understanding of the relationship between the domestic Alevi organizations and political actors in Turkey. Through process tracing this dissertation demonstrates that Alevis present an interesting case in the study of political inclusion of minorities. Alevis reject minority status, although their demands include collective right claims, and their narratives emphasize discrimination on the basis of their collective identity. The interest groups established by Alevis seek recognition and respect for the community but have been unable to effectively mobilize due to the heterogeneity in framing Alevi identity. Finally, the regional organizations, which historically played a significant role in the diffusion of norms of individual and collective rights, contribute to the emergence of new patterns of exclusion for the Alevi community in Turkey.