Kızılbaşlar - Aleviler

In this research, the religious and socio-religious structure of the Kızılbaş/Alevi belief community is discussed. In the analysis, the conditions during the emergence of this belief community were taken into consideration. Kızılbaş/Alevis, who constitute the largest religious community in Turkey after Sunni Muslims, define themselves as Twelve Imam Shiites, one of the groups of Islam. However, the unique characteristics of this belief make it difficult to classify the Kızılbaşlar/Alevis under the sect of Islam. It would be more accurate to define the Kizilbash/Alevism belief as an independent religion that was born in the environment where Folk Islam emerged and was under the influence of the extreme Shiite belief and assimilated some of its elements.

The language of the majority of Kizilbash/Alevi is Turkish. Contrary to popular belief in Turkey, Alevi Kurds represent a minority group within the faith community in question. Within the scope of this research, the question of under what historical conditions the Kurds were integrated into the Kizilbash/Alevism, which emerged and developed in the nomadic Turkmen community, will not be focused on. This issue needs to be addressed in future studies. However, the fact that the Kizilbash/Alevis see themselves as "we" (group), regardless of their ethnic origins and languages, will constitute the justified reason for me to consider them as a whole - without distinguishing between Turks and Kurds - in this research.



Number of Pages: 224

Year of Printing: 2012


Language: Turkish
Publisher: Details Publications

First Printing Year: 2012

Number of Pages: 224

Language Turkish