On June 19, musician Sabahat Akkiraz posted on the digital media platform X: “Talat Pasha is a hero.” Last week, Erdal Erzincan wrote on the same platform: “Alevism is an ancient tradition that embraces 72 nations. There is no such thing as ‘Kurdish Alevi’ or ‘Turkish Alevi’; there are Alevis who speak Kurdish, Alevis who speak Turkish, or Alevis who speak Zazaki. The language of Alevism is the language of the people; its ritual language is Turkish. Tradition has passed this down to us in this way.”
Democratic Alevi Federation (FEDA) co-chair Huriye Kabayel described the stance of Sabahat Akkiraz and Erdal Erzincan as “attaching Alevism to the state’s monolithic ideology.”
First, I would like to start with Sabahat Akkiraz’s post. Both Turkmen Alevis and Kızılbaş Kurdish Alevis have suffered massacres. How do you interpret Sabahat Akkiraz, who is known for her Alevi identity, saying “Talat Pasha is a hero”?
Recently, artist Sabahat Akkiraz’s praise of Talat Pasha is a deep wound for the Alevi community. Talat Pasha was one of the architects of the genocidal policy that the Turkish state still continues today, and one of the leaders of the Committee of Union and Progress. His name is remembered, along with Cemal Pasha and Enver Pasha, with the 1915 genocide, exiles, and the assimilation imposed on Kurdish Alevis.
For an Alevi artist – especially a woman artist – to praise a genocidaire who committed crimes against humanity like Talat Pasha is even more painful. Alevism is perhaps the only faith centered on women and one that values women. For a woman to make such a statement is contrary to Alevi faith and has deeply wounded Alevis.
To call the executioner of peoples a hero is a betrayal of the Alevi path. Because Alevism commands taking the side of the oppressed against tyranny. To embrace Talat Pasha means siding not with the oppressed, but with the oppressors. This is attaching Alevism to the state’s monolithic ideology.
Erdal Erzincan also said: “The language of Alevism is the language of the heart, but the ritual language is Turkish. Tradition has passed this down to us in this way.” How realistic do you think this statement is?
Right after Sabahat Akkiraz’s statements, musician Erdal Erzincan came to the fore with the words: “The ritual language of Alevism is Turkish, there is no Kurdish Alevi or Turkish Alevi.” This discourse is nothing but a reproduction of the assimilationist policy the state has imposed on Alevis for years.
It is true that the “language of the heart” of Alevism is universal, the common language of souls. But this cannot be an excuse to deny people’s mother tongues. In Dersim, Koçgiri, and Maraş, hymns (nefes) have been sung in Kurdish and Zazaki; Arab Alevis have performed cem ceremonies in their own language; Turkish hymns have also been part of this richness. To say “the ritual language of Alevism is only Turkish” is to deny this historical heritage and to legitimize a monolithic mentality.
Alevi tradition has for centuries been a symbol of resistance against power. From the Ottoman Empire to the Republic, it has been targeted with massacres, exile, and forced resettlement. Yet the path has survived to this day through language, hymns, ceremonies, in other words, through the diversity of peoples. Reducing Alevism to a single language or a single identity is to ignore the essence of this resistance.
It may sound a bit absurd, but I would still like to ask: as Erdal Erzincan said, is there no such thing as a “Kurdish Alevi”?
Kurdish Alevis have historically suffered double oppression, both for their faith and their identity. Koçgiri, Maraş, and Dersim are the most painful witnesses of this. To say “there is no Kurdish Alevi” is to deny this historical reality. Such denial only serves the state; it does not promote the unity of peoples, but deepens their division.
What do these discourses that homogenize Alevis mean?
The truth of the path means to walk toward the truth of faith. Truth is not found in the state’s official ideology, but in the lives of peoples, in their cem ceremonies, in their languages, and in their resistance. Every discourse that homogenizes Alevism is a deviation from the truth of the path. The true path is to defend the right of peoples to live their language, identity, and faith freely.
Today, the most accurate answer to the question of the language of Alevism is this: the language of Alevism is the mother tongue of the peoples. It can be Turkish, Kurdish, Arabic… The “language of the heart” is indeed universal, but this cannot be an excuse to deny mother tongues.
The Kızılbaş tradition remains true to its essence only insofar as it embraces the diversity of peoples. Any approach that praises Talat Pasha or reduces Alevism to a single language serves the government’s assimilationist mentality. Our path is to defend the truth against this mentality. Only in this way can both Alevism and our peoples be liberated.