2023-04-21 03:47:32
The candidate of the Turkish opposition alliance for the presidential elections, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, spoke publicly for the first time regarding his belonging to the Alevi minority, thus breaking one of the main taboos in Turkey.
“I think it’s time for me to discuss with you a very special and sensitive issue…. I am an Alevi, I am a sincere Muslim,” Kilicdaroglu said in a video posted on Twitter on Wednesday evening.
Kilicdaroglu, who might become Turkey’s first Alevi president, promised, if elected in May, to put an end to discrimination and “sectarian differences that cause pain” in Turkey’s Muslim-majority and secular constitution.
Observers said that Kilicdaroglu, who was born in the historically rebellious Dersim region (later called Tunceli in the east), where Kurds and Alawites make up the majority of its population, will find it difficult to convince conservative Sunni voters.
Reactions to Kilicdaroglu’s declaration
A number of President Erdogan’s opponents, including conservatives, welcomed Kilicdaroglu’s message.
- “It is possible to live on these lands without discrimination and in an atmosphere of equality, brotherhood and peace,” said Selahattin Demirtas, the former co-chair of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party, who has been imprisoned since 2016.
- “We can put an end to this shady system together by choosing morality, justice and honesty instead of polarization and identity politics,” wrote the Felicity Party, which was founded by Necmettin Erbakan, President Erdogan’s patron but has moved into opposition.
- But Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu accused the opposition candidate of trying to present himself as a “victim”. “It is not we who say that an Alawite cannot be elected… It is not a problem for us. We overcame all of that,” he said.
In the past, Erdogan attacked the Alevi minority, accusing its members of “dominance” over judges in Turkey and of creating a “new religion.”
During the current election campaign, the head of state did not openly attack his opponent regarding his religious identity. However, in early April he alluded to this point following Kilicdaroglu accidentally stepped on a prayer rug without taking off his shoes.
“Those who do not know the direction of prayer walk with their shoes on the prayer rug. The right direction will be shown to them on May 14,” he said at a meeting in Istanbul.
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