The Alevi issue and democratic rights in Turkey as seen by young AKP activists: social conflict, identity boundaries and some perspectives on recognition

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper discusses the Alevi-Sunni social conflict in Turkey through an examination of how the politically engaged youth of the Justice and Development Party (Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi, AKP) perceived the rights of the Alevi population around the time of the AKP’s ‘Democratic Opening’. Based on qualitative fieldwork involving 78 interviews conducted between 2009 and 2011 in seven different cities, the research focuses on the boundaries of AKP identity concerning Alevis’ democratic demands and different modes of reconciliation with these. The results show the issue of Alevi politico-religious rights to reveal the religious, institutional and national boundaries of AKP political identity. In addition, the demand for the construction of a museum to commemorate the 1993 Madımak Massacre in Sivas triggered the Sunni memory boundaries of young activists in that city. The AKP youth also presented some approaches that reconciled with Alevi demands, classified as pragmatic, political and subjective.