TURKS IN GERMANY, RELIGIOUS RECOGNITION, AND OFFICIAL RECOGNITION OF ALEVIS AS A RELIGIOUS COMMUNITY

Year 2024, Issue: 111, 361 - 380, 16.09.2024

Mahmut Mazlum

https://doi.org/10.60163/tkhcbva.1379934

Abstract

This study focuses on Turkish immigrants living in Germany for over 60 years and their
incorporation into the local religious system. Germany’s history of religious conflicts has
contributed to the evaluation of a society where confessions coexist. This historical situation resulted in the developing of a religious recognition system that tried to provide equal rights
to all religious groups. Turks in Germany have institutionalized chiefly based on their religion,
recognizing the advantages of this system. However, among those groups, only the Alevi
Community in Germany (AABF) has achieved full recognition in this system. The situation
of other Turkish religious groups in Germany is not even close to that position. They are not
even recognized as a religious community in many parts of the country. Taking this situation
as a starting point, this article aims to understand how Alevis achieved full recognition while
others still face enormous challenges. As an answer to that, our study offers a new theoretical
framework. This approach combines political opportunity structures, path dependence, and
transnational linkages in an eclectic frame and claims to explain the situation in the diaspora in
a generalizable way. Accordingly, the institutionalization of Turks in Germany was framed by
four vital factors: the projection of permanency, political opportunity structures, transnational
linkages, and path dependency developed by the latter two. As it became clear that they
would be permanent in Germany, Turks established and improved religious organizations.
As said, they used the advantages of political opportunity structures available to them from
the beginning. However, they were also transnational organizations, and those transnational
linkages and initiatives resulted in delays in localization and organizational transformations for
recognition. Especially those dependent on those transnational linkages due to human resources
and funding, which have created path dependencies that cannot be changed even today. Those
religious organizations have oscillated between political opportunities and resources provided
by transnational linkages. AABF had distinct transnational linkages that did not result in
creating a dependency, unlike other organizations. This allowed the organization to make
necessary changes in its structure and follow a successful strategy for recognition.

Keywords

Politics, Sociology, Migration, Alevis in Germany, Religious Recognition in Germany, Turkish Diaspora, Islam in Germany, Turks in Germany.

ALMANYA’DA TÜRKLER, DİNİ TANINMA VE ALEVİLERİN BİR DİNİ CEMAAT OLARAK TANINMASI

Abstract

Bu çalışma, Almanya’da artık uzunca bir süredir yaşayan Türklerin bu ülkedeki din devlet
ilişkileri sistemine entegrasyonlarına odaklanmaktadır. Etnik farklılıklara yönelik resmi
bir tanınma sistemi olmayan Almanya, tarihsel olarak farklı mezheplerin bir arada yaşadığı
bir ülke olması hasebiyle ülkede yaşayan dini farklılıklara sahip toplulukların eşit olarak
tanınmasına olanak sağlayan bir sisteme sahiptir. Nitekim bu durum Almanya’da yaşayan
Türkler tarafından da fark edilmiş, bu sebeple de kurumsallaşma çabaları ve tanınma talepleri
tarihsel olarak genelde dini alanda yoğunlaşmıştır. Ancak Almanya’da yaşayan Türklerin
kurduğu dini örgütlenmeler arasında sadece Almanya Alevi Cemaati (AABF) tam anlamıyla
başarı göstermiş ve Alevilerin yaşadığı birçok eyalette yerleşik kiliselerle eşit hakları elde
edebilmiştir. Ülkede Türklerin kurdukları İslami örgütlenmeler henüz birçok eyalette dini
cemaat olarak bile görülmemektedir. Bu meseleyi merkezine alan çalışmamız, bütün bu örgütler
arasında sadece AABF’nin tanınmış olması durumunu açıklamak amacıyla yeni bir teorik
çerçeve önermektedir. Politik fırsat yapıları, izlek bağlılığı ve ulus ötesi bağlantıları bir araya
getiren bu eklektik çerçeve, durumu genellenebilir bir şekilde açıklama iddiasındadır. Buna
göre Almanya’daki Türk örgütlenmelerinin kurumsallaşması kalıcılık projeksiyonu, politik
fırsat yapıları, ulus ötesi bağlar ve bunların oluşturduğu izlek bağlılığı dinamikleri tarafından
şekillendirilmiştir. Türklerin burada kalıcı oldukları netleştikçe örgütlenmeler politik fırsat
yapılarından yararlanma çabasına girmişler ancak bu örgütlerin ulus ötesi bağları bu durumu
genel olarak geciktirici ya da engelleyici bir mahiyet göstermiştir. Özellikle insan ve finans
kaynağı gibi konularda ulus ötesi bağlara mecbur olan bazı örgütlerde, bu bağlar ciddi bir izlek
bağlılığı yaratmış ve bu örgütleri politik fırsat yapılarından yararlanarak tanınma ya da ulus
ötesi bağlarını devam ettirme kutupları arasında bırakmıştır. Ulus ötesi bağların daha zayıf izlek
bağlılıkları yarattığı AABF örneğinde ise, yerelleşme ve sisteme uygun reform kararları çok
daha hızlı alınarak, tanınma süreci sorunsuz tamamlanabilmiştir

Keywords

Siyaset, Sosyoloji, Göç, Almanya’da Aleviler, Almanya’da Dini Tanınma, Türk Diasporası, Almanya’da İslam, Almanya’da Türkler

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