Around 1986, Mr İsmail Yağlı and I set out with the question of what kind of work could make the Alevi faith flourish again in the life of the Alevi community.
Later, we as a team – Ahmet Aydemir, İsmail Yağlı, Derviş Tur, İsmail Elçioğlu, Sabit Yıldız, Musa Bakır, Uğur Aydoğdu – together with many of our Alevi “cans” (fellow believers) who came to our meetings, joined us and supported us, decided to carry out this service by founding associations.
Mr İsmail left after serving with us for 10–12 years. I continued with the other friends. It is now 2015, and I am still continuing with services of faith.
I believe you will all agree that it would not be possible to gather close to 30 years of organisational work in a single book. I write only about what I experienced personally, proving it with documents. I do not write in order to target or defame anyone. I am simply a living witness to the events that have taken place up to today during the time I have served the Alevi community. That is why I write about the positive and the negative events in their naked truth, so that they may bear witness to history in the future.
Bibliographic Details
| Title | Avrupa’da İlk Alevi Yapılanması – Tarihi Gerçekleri ve Seyit Derviş Tur’un Hatıraları (The First Alevi Organisation in Europe – Its Historical Facts and the Memoirs of Seyit Derviş Tur) |
| Author | Seyit Derviş Tur |
| Year | 2016 |
| Copy editor / Editor | Şefika Turan |
| Pages | 417 (about half of them documents and photographs) |
| Dedication | To his wife Zöhre Tur |
About the Book
This book recounts the first years of Alevi organisation in Europe through the testimony of a founder who took part in the process himself. The author stresses that he relates only what he experienced himself and supports his account with documents: the book contains statutes, official correspondence, minutes of meetings, newspaper reports and photographs.
The story begins in Rüsselsheim in 1986: a small team, brought together by the concern that Alevi children growing up in Germany were becoming estranged from their faith, first founds the Alevi Bektashi association in Mainz, then associations in other cities, and finally the Federation of Alevi Communities (Alevi Cemaatleri Federasyonu). From the author’s perspective, the book covers the seminars and cems held under threat, the Hacı Bektaş commemorations, the meetings in Ankara, the founding of the Council of Dedes (Dedeler Kurulu) and the developments of the following years.
The author states that he wrote the book as a historical source for future generations of Europe’s Alevis.
Chronology from the Book
| Date | Event (as described by the author) |
|---|---|
| 23.02.1987 | First meeting in Rüsselsheim with 15 people |
| 26.03.1987 | Decision to found an Alevi institution |
| 27.09.1987 | Statutes of the “Alevi Bektaschi Gemeinde” submitted to the authorities in Mainz |
| 01.12.1988 | Official founding of the Mainz–Rüsselsheim–Wiesbaden Alevi Bektashi Association |
| 18.02.1989 | The idea of a federation is born on the way back from Kassel |
| 11.05.1989 | Seminar and cem in St. Pölten, Austria, despite threats |
| 25.05.1990 | Founding meeting of the Federation of Alevi Communities in Dortmund (9 associations) |
| 17.01.1991 | The federation is officially registered in Mainz |
| 30.05.1991 | First general assembly of the federation (17 associations) |
| 16.08.1991 | Speech at the Hacı Bektaş commemoration |
| 11.12.1991 | Meeting with Prime Minister Demirel as the “Alevi Delegation” |
| 10.07.1993 | March in Cologne for the martyrs of Sivas |
| 30.10.1993 | Handover of the federation’s leadership |
| 1994 | Founding of the Council of Dedes |
| 18.12.1994 | Panel “Where Are the Alevis Heading?” in Rüsselsheim |
| 2000 | Visit to Karbala |
| 2004 | Opening of the Erzincan Central Cemevi |
| 2009 | Symposium marking the association’s 20th anniversary |
Selected Chapters
- The idea that first brought about the Alevi organisation in Europe, and the first decision
- The decision to found it under the name Alevi Bektashi
- The spread of the Alevi organisation to Austria
- The decision to found a federation, and the Federation of Alevi-Bektashi Communities
- Our first cem and the Hacı Bektaş commemorations
- The Ankara meetings and the years as federation chairman
- The founding of the Council of Dedes and the acquisition of the headquarters building in Cologne
- The visit to Karbala, the opening of the Erzincan Central Cemevi and the twentieth-anniversary symposium
„Örgütlü toplum, güçlü toplumdur.“
“An organised society is a strong society.”
Avrupa’da İlk Alevi Yapılanması, p. 20
Who Is It For?
For readers and researchers who wish to learn about the history of Alevi organisation in Europe through the testimony and documents of one of its founders, and for young generations curious about the past of the Alevi associations.
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Bibliographic Details
| Book | Avrupa’da İlk Alevi Yapılanmasının Tarihi Gerçekleri ve Seyit Derviş Tur’un Hatıraları |
| Author | Seyit Derviş Tur |
| Year of publication | 2016 |
| Publication | Published by the author |
| Contents | The founding of the Alevi associations, the Federation of Alevi Communities (today’s AABF) and the Council of Dedes in Germany between 1986 and 2003; documents, minutes and newspaper clippings |
| Language | Turkish |
Translated from the Turkish original by Seyit Derviş Tur.