Pir Rıza Yağmur, a Pir of the Dersim Derviş Cemal Ocak (Alevi hereditary spiritual lineage / institution), criticised the latest statements of Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) Leader Devlet Bahçeli within the framework of the so-called “Alevi opening” through the ancient history and philosophy of the Alevi belief, and defined the essence of Alevism as “the struggle between the rightful and the unjust in the Middle East.” He said that today’s Alevi organisations have, in recent years, been “chasing rent” and have been trying to corrupt the belief.
Pir Rıza emphasised the deep roots of the Alevi belief and said that the Kızılbash were among the first communities to describe the belief in one God, and that this is an ancient truth of this geography. He said that the truths revealed by the Göbekli Tepe excavations are already present in Alevi deyişler (Alevi spiritual hymns) and added: “For example, one of them says, ‘For 14 thousand years I have wandered in the whirling of the moth. I found my name Sıtkı in my delusion. I drank the wine of love in my intoxication. In the cem of the Forty I became a soul in the dara.’ Starting 14 thousand years ago, it says that the religion of Islam, which came later, is also included, and ‘in the cem of the Forty I became a soul in the dara.’ In other words, from the day human beings recognised themselves until today, there has been a struggle between the rightful and the unjust. When religions fall into the hands of states, they are invaded. No religion commands cruelty. It is an advance, within the conditions of that day.”
Pir Rıza stated that Alevis could not properly interpret the struggle between 1960 and 1980, and defined the 12 September period as a “counter-revolution,” and also said: “But Alevis could not understand this. Between 1960 and 1980 there was a different struggle. When that was lost, the counter-revolution took place. 12 September is a counter-revolution. But there was a popular uprising against it. The Kurdish Freedom Movement fought against this. A significant part of Alevis are also Kurds. Moreover, this belief was preserved in the mountains by Kurdish Alevis. Let me say this openly. In Anatolia, in the Balkans, here and there, if this belief had not remained hidden in the mountains, if the Pirs in the ocaks had not carried that belief, today there would be no talk of the essence of the Alevi. The last 50 years were witness to this. In the last year an extraordinary struggle was waged.”
The meaning of the conflict and of vow in Syria
Pir Rıza said that the Middle East is a “caste system,” a geography where Pharaohs and Nimrods emerged as well as prophets and Husseins and stated that current conflicts must be read through an Alevi lens. Pir Rıza said: “Today the conflict in Syria is not a simple clash between Assad and his opponents. It is the unfinished struggle of the last religion, the unfinished conflict between Ali and Muawiya. It is the struggle of Hussein and Yazid. But Alevis were not able to grasp this.”
Pir Rıza underlined that the obstacle in front of Bahçeli’s so-called opening is that he has no understanding of “ikrar (Alevi vow of honour),” and said: “Ikrar is a vow of honour. When Alevis give ikrar to God, it requires them to stand on the side of whoever is waging the struggle for truth in every era. This is the first condition of the Alevi belief. When Seyit Rıza went to the gallows and said ‘we are the children of Karbala, without fault,’ he meant we have no fault. Seyit Rıza is not Arab but Kurdish. He has a lineage of at least tens of thousands of years. He is the guide of the Abasan tribe. And their ağas (tribal chief) are also our talips (follower bound to an ocak). When he said the “evladı Kebala of the Derviş Yaman Ocak,” he meant we had a vow of honour to that line. We had an ikrar. So, in whose hands was that line in the last fifty years? In the hands of this people who sacrificed thousands of children as martyrs. Alevis could not read this properly.”
Assimilation projects
Pir Rıza described Bahçeli’s statement “the mosque is ours, the cemevi is ours” as “a vague, rounded way of speaking,” and continued: “When religion falls into the hands of states it becomes cruel. Muawiya and Hussein cannot stand side by side. What Bahçeli is doing resembles this. You cannot sit in Muawiya’s palace and claim Hussein’s cause. You must take a stance against Muawiya, against Yazid. Only then can you take anything. Alevis could not read the last fifty years, and the reason for this is the Alevi Pirs. The burden has now fallen on Bahçeli because the Alevi Pirs ran after rent. They became ‘dede’ (Alevi religious elder with hereditary authority) and ended the pirlik tradition. Then they went to internal elections with delegates, and all these things happened. All of it is wrong. The last fifty years became a history that Alevis could not read properly. They misread it. And the state had a project for Alevis in the 1980s: the project was ‘to build a mosque in the last Alevi village.’”
He said that the federations and associations established in recent years have been made dependent on the state and emphasised that this is contrary to the philosophy of Alevism, because Alevis can preserve the principle of “standing with the rightful” only by remaining outside the organisational structures of the state. Assessing the latest “Alevi opening” or the new politics towards Alevis within the debate on Turkey’s search for internal peace, Pir Rıza argued that Turkish society cannot fully see what lies behind this search and continued: “When I look at it through the eyes of a Kurdish Alevi, it is not the Kurds who are actually in difficulty, but the Turks. Because they do not know what to do, they make certain statements without thought or measure.”
Alevis have stood beside the rightful struggle throughout history
Pir Rıza criticised the silence of Alevi Pirs against these “openings” and emphasised that the state must not attempt to dress Alevis with new identities. Recalling the verses that Pir Sultan Abdal spoke 550 years ago, beginning from Kızılırmak (the region where Turkmen Alevis live), “Kızılırmak gibi bendin boşan/Hamad’dan, Mardin’den Sivas’a döşen/ Düdül yerlerinde Zülfükar koşan alim ne yaşarsın?/Çar Gündüngen’de yetiş”, he underlined that these words are not merely a geographic description, but serve as a roadmap and guide for sustaining the belief.
Pir Rıza said that this belief has a connection of tens of thousands of years, that within the Alevi belief all prophets of all religions are mentioned, and that truth is conveyed as a path towards the people, towards God. He continued: “Therefore, Kızılbash and Alevis who grasp this truth have known how to stand beside the rightful struggle in every era throughout history. But in the last fifty years, certain initiatives carried out over society and the federations and associations that were established, have become dependent on the state. This situation is contrary to the essence of the Alevi belief.”
Recalling that despite the Turkish state’s discourse of “a thousand years of brotherhood,” the “Turkish mentality” has not learned even one sentence of the language of this people, Pir Rıza ended his remarks as follows: “They say that nothing can happen alone, that we must all become one. Fine, you may become one, but you must be ready to stand against a mentality that records ‘speaking in a language that is not understood.’ The other name for being ready is being organised. Pir Sultan Abdal says: ‘If you do not know yourself, ask the one who knows. Does the one who asks overcome mountains? Yes, he does. If a person sets out without consultation, he becomes lost on the road. Does he become lost? Yes, he does.’ Alevis must adopt an organised stance in order to protect their belief and their history.”