Cemevi, and the freedom of religion
Good news this weekend from south-eastern Diyarbakir. The municipality joined with an Alevi organisation in a ceremony for the opening of a cemevi, a prayer house for Alevis (a liberal path in Islam). A brand new, multipurpose building where the (small) Alevi community of Diyarbakir can come together to celebrate their religion. Still, I have some reservations too. Because in …
When I came home Saturdaynight, I heard the sound of a cow coming from the neighbour’s garden. I checked, and yes, there it was. Usually there are only chicken running around there, and the occasional cats and dogs. But I was not surprised to see a cow: the next day would be the Feast of Sacrifice. I knocked the neighbours …
In some countries, you have child soldiers, but in Turkey, there are baby soldiers. In fact, every Turk, the myth says, is born as a soldier. Children say that every day in their pledge to the flag before they enter school: besides saying they are Turks, honest and hard working, they state they were born a soldier. To become a …
Saturday the Turkish parliament was opened for the new legislative year. Usually just a ceremonial procedure, this time a historic day: the pro-Kurdish BDP party ended its boycott of parliament, and thus Kurdish activist and politician Leyla Zana also returned to what now is again a bit more like the heart of Turkish democracy. Leyla Zana changed the oath a …
The sound of cutlery: Ramadan in Üsküdar
‘Istanbul is not very different than usual during Ramadan, is it?’ I’m with a group of Turks, we are in Beyoglu, a shopping, nightlife and tourist hub, and they look at me, they want to hear the foreigner’s opinion. ‘Well’, I start my answer, ‘you know, I live in Üsküdar and…’, and don’t get the chance to finish my sentence. …
Banned officially in 1925, but still very much alive in Turkey, is the Mevlevi Order, a spiritual Islamic sect. Most people know them from the ‘whirling dervishes’, a ceremony performed by the followers of the order (called ‘dervishes’) as a way to connect with God. Up until now I never really got into it very deeply, probably because they are hardly ever …
A small translation matter this weekend turned into an interesting cultural discussion. It began with the word ‘gavur’. The most logical translation for that is ‘infidel’. But ‘infidel’ doesn’t have anything like all the implications and connotations that ‘gavur’ has in Turkish.
The word came up because I wrote a short article about Caroline, a Dutch character in a Turkish soap. …
I remember visiting Anitkabir (Atatürk’s tomb in Ankara) with a friend of mine who admires Atatürk. He was sort of on top of the world, and I asked him why. He answered: ‘You know, Muslims go to Mecca, Kemalists go to Anitkabir.’
I couldn’t get it out out of my mind today. In the news there was an event that took …
No Diyanet soccer tournament yet
Diyanet is not a very much debated institution in Turkey. Which is kind of strange, when you think of it as one of those that protect the existence of the secular, kemalist Turkish state. In that perspective, you can compare Diyanet to, for example, the army or the judiciary. Those two institutions are widely discussed, especially since the AKP government …
Churches are hot news these days in Turkey. Yesterday a mass was held at the Armenian Church of the Holy Cross in the eastern province of Van; some weeks ago a religious service was held outside the Greek Orthodox Monastery of Sümela in Trabzon province. And last week, a group of Greeks from the United States were set to come …
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