Seyit Derviş Tur Dede has written about the Alevi path and its rites (yol and erkân), the Alevi interpretation of Islam and the history of Alevi organisation in Europe in five works. Below you will find short introductions to the books.
Erkânname
Aleviliğin İslam Yorumu ve Alevi Erkânları (The Alevi Interpretation of Islam and the Alevi Rites) · 3rd expanded edition, 2012 · 809 pages
The author’s main work: a history of Islam from an Alevi perspective and a comprehensive guide to the rites, describing step by step the Cem, musahiplik (spiritual kinship), görgü (the cem of accountability), düşkünlük (excommunication) and Dâr’dan İndirme (readmission from the dâr).
Avrupa’da İlk Alevi Yapılanması (The First Alevi Organisation in Europe)
Tarihi Gerçekleri ve Seyit Derviş Tur’un Hatıraları (Historical Facts and the Memoirs of Seyit Derviş Tur) · 2016 · 417 pages
A history and memoir describing the founding of the first Alevi associations in Germany from 1987 onwards and of the Federation of Alevi Communities (Alevi Cemaatleri Federasyonu), told through the testimony and documents of one of its founders.
Alevi İslam Şaha Giden Yol (Alevi Islam – The Path to the Shah)
Zâhirî ve Bâtınî Yönleriyle Alevi İslam İnancı (The Alevi Islamic Faith in its Outer and Inner Dimensions) · 2019
A work that discusses the Alevi Islamic faith in its outer and inner dimensions and examines the journey of the Ehl-i Beyt tasavvuf (the mystical teaching of the Prophet’s family) to Anatolia.
İmam Rıza Türbesi (The Shrine of Imam Reza)
Ziyaret ve İran Anılarım (A Visit and My Memories of Iran)
A work recounting, in the form of memoirs, a visit to the shrine of Imam Reza and observations on the religious and social life of Iranian society.
Arzuhâl (A Petition)
Erenler Meclisinin Çilekeş Kemteri (The Long-Suffering Humblest One of the Assembly of the Erenler) · 2022 · 224 pages
A work in which the author tells his life as an “arzuhal” (petition) offered to the Creator: memories of Alevi service in Germany and a mystical inner journey dealing with the struggle against the ego (nefs).
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His Works in Academic Research
- Erkânname (2002; expanded 3rd edition 2012) was cited as a source on musahiplik at the International Symposium on Bektashism and Alevism of the Faculty of Theology of Süleyman Demirel University (SDÜ, 2005). Martin Sökefeld (2005), drawing on this work, presents Tur’s view of Alevism as the mystical, inner path of Islam.
- Avrupa’da İlk Alevi Yapılanmasının Tarihi Gerçekleri ve Seyit Derviş Tur’un Hatıraları (2016) was used as a source in Bülent Keleş’s article “The History of the Alevis in Germany, which Began in 1961” (SÜREK Dergisi, 2024).
Details and links: In the Press and Media
Translated from the Turkish original by Seyit Derviş Tur.