Avrupa Birliği Hibe Fon Başvurusu

15-11-2011 Tarihinde Turan AYKANAT tarafından Avrupa Birliği Hibe Fonlarına yapılan  başvuru metnidir.

Contracting Authority:

Delegation of the European Union to Turkey

European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR)

Country Based Support Scheme Turkey Programme

Restricted Call for Proposals 2011

Grant Application Form

Table of content

Part A. CONCEPT NOTE. 3

1    Instructions for the drafting of the concept note. 3

1.1.   Summary of the action. 3

1.2.   Relevance of the action 3

1.3.   Description of the action 7

2    Checklist for concept note. 8

3    Declaration by the applicant for concept note. 10

4    Assessment grid for concept note. 11

5    Appendix……………………………………………………………………………………………………….12

Part A. CONCEPT NOTE

1          Instructions for the drafting of the concept note

1.1.        Summary of the action

1.2.        Relevance of the action

1.2.1.    Relevance to the objectives/sectors/themes/specific priorities of the call for proposals

Main objective of our project is to institutionalise the Alawism (Shiism), raise the awareness of Alawism firstly among people in our villages and the neighbour villages and then among people in other villages and cities in Turkey and also provide the sustainability of the religious services. We aim to be organised within the scope of globalising world. We also aim to be organised at a certain level and stand for the Alewi rights in an institutionalised framework by providing unity at a macro level.

Alawism is a belief system which enshrines the holiness of God, Muhammed and Ali, maintains the justice of Ali, has a principle of philanthropy, respects all religions and has indulgence towards them, does not make language, religion or race discrimination, stipulates the principles of composing oneself, brings the believers together and fulfils their religious needs, enables people to have their own justice system in their community, supports the idea of secularism, democracy, equality, participation and sharing, antagonises the cruelty, is always with the downtrodden and carries out all these principles in Kırklar Cem.

The word “cem” is originated from Arabic and expresses the idea of coming together in the direction of a specific purpose. The purpose of our Cemevi (Djemevi) is to sustain the social peace within the scope of Alewi doctrine. The first Cem worship is known to be performed by Sumerians. The people who were in charge of the 12 services in Sumerians are; 1- Arabacı(Carman), 2-Kahya(Housekeeper), 3-Mübaşir(Process-server), 4-Silahtar(Armourer), 5-Müzisyen(Musician), 6-Kuşbaz(Bird fancier), 7-Keçi Çobanı(Goatherd), 8-Dalyan Denetçisi(Crowl supervisor), 9-Ulak(Messenger), 10-Tahıl Denetçisi(Corn supervisor), 11-Mabyenici(Chamberlain), 12-Kapı bekçisi(Watchman)[1]. The name of the current people in charge in Alewi Cems are 1-Pir(Patriarch), 2-Rehber(Guide), 3-Gözcü(Watchman), 4-Işıkçı(Electrician), 5-Zakir(The person who chants), 6-Süpürgeci(Seller of brooms), 7-Kurbancı(Sacrificer), 8-Sucu(Waterman), 9-Semahçı(The person who whirls), 10-Ulak(Messenger), 11-Rehber(Guide), 12-Kapıcı(Gate keeper). The resemblance of the names of the people in charge stands out that the Cem worship was performed in the early days of history.

People who are in conflict, resent each other or commit a crime against their society(murderers, burglars, etc.) cannot attend the Cem worships. These people can only attend the worship on condition that they regret what they did. Thus the conflicts in the society are prevented and a social peace is sustained.

Karlı village is originated from the “Qarluq” Turkic tribe and this tribe is known as the first to become Muslim[2]. Our villagers have difficulty in worshipping and cannot perform their beliefs completely. The new generation is raised up being devoid of the Alewi culture. Alewi culture has been exposed to disinformation and has been facing extinction. Therefore we decided to develop the Karlı Köyü Cemevi Project to protect the Alewi culture, transmit this culture to the next generations thoroughly and be a model for the other villages in our country.

The Alewi culture has been exposed to smear since the Ottoman period and encountered infelicitous slaughters by rebelling against the demands of local officials. Books were burnt, the worships were tried to be humiliated by bad characterizations and the Alewi leaders were murdered tragically as a warning. In Republican period, the pressure and smear campaigns continued, hundreds of people were murdered calamitously in Maraş, Çorum and Sivas.

The common representatives of our board of management are 12 people pursuant to 12 imam ritual. The chairman resigned with a letter of appreciation as a crew chief in the navy shipyard and presided many NGOs. He is still a member of the board in the biggest Cemevi in Turkey. Other partners are chosen from the villagers who have enough professional and religious background. Our consultant is the lecturer of the Cumhuriyet University Dr. Dogan Aykanat. The headman of our village is Sevki Celen who returned to his village after working in Germany for many years. Our other member is an Alewi “dede(ancestor)”. All of them are highly experienced.

This project will provide close relationships between the cities and villages and it will stimulate the society to maintain their old beliefs. Especially the young who live in cities will have the chance to get to know this historical culture of belief in its original place. Thus, many rituals which were lost by immigration will be returned to the Alewi culture.

1.2.2.    Relevance to the particular needs and constraints of the target country/countries, region(s) and/or relevant sectors (including synergy with other EU initiatives and avoidance of duplication)

Sivas is one of the most populated cities in Turkey. However, thanks to its demographical environmental conditions, Sivas is economically weak and people immigrate to other cities continuously. The area was a capital city of many empires and the first democratic congress of Turkey took place in this area. Sivas is known to host most of the Alewi people in Turkey.

Karlı is an Alewi village connected to Hafik County of Sivas which has 5,000 population and includes 500 houses. All members of the society belong to Alewi sectarian. With the changing requirements in the world, people had to immigrate to big cities of the big country and world.

Karlı villagers now worship in an old small holy place. However, this Cemevi is very old and it is very narrow for the worship. Alewi people have to perform the worships by their own financial possibilities, since the government support is only given to the Sunni people.

Most of the Cemevis in Sivas are mainly small and non-institutional. There is one Cemevi which has no structural links to our project. Our project is unique in ways of structure and idea and has an aim to be a model for the future projects.

1.2.3.      Describe and define the target groups and final beneficiaries, their needs and constraints and how the action will address these needs

The Alewis have been expelled regularly and systematically since the Ottoman Period. They were forced to live in especially mountainous and nonarable lands. After getting into trouble economically, the Alewis had to immigrate.

Karlı village’s population is 5,000. However, most of the population can only reside in spring and summer months thanks to the severe weather conditions. The summer population rises up to 1,500. The population profile of the village is mentioned below:

1) Villagers: Villagers live in the villages in most parts of their lives and sustain the customs of their villages. They contact the cities later on. They are engaged in stockbreeding and agriculture. They belong to the lower-class.

2) Rural-urban Migrants: They are the ones who live in the villages in their childhood and youth and had to immigrate from the countries to the towns because of the economical reasons. Their parents are villagers and they are stuck between rural and urban lives. They try to maintain their customs at home and become citizens in the outside world. However, they fail in both. They are generally workers, civil servants and housewives.

3) Urban-rural Migrants: They are the ones who were born in the villages, their parents are rural-urbans, they were brought up by the village customs in cities. Their personalities are affected by their social environments. They have got educational backgrounds. They adopt the city culture and the village culture takes a back seat. Most of them are employed. They belong to lower-middle, middle and upper-middle classes.

The villagers live in the villages in summers and winters, the rural-urbans go to the villages in springs and summers and the urban-rurals go to villages for a short period of time. Especially the urban-rurals have much more difficulty learning their culture since they stay in the villages for a short time due to the time restrictions. Our target group is primarily the urban-rurals. For this reason;

We plan to hold a “Cem Week“ every first week of July every year on the purpose of introducing our culture and beliefs, to come together in this area by hiring busses from most of the parts of the country and keep this culture alive at least for a week. Apart from the Cemevi, we also aim to reintroduce the old rituals and entertainments belonging to the Turkish customs and traditions to the villagers as part of this week.

Cemevi is designed as a common social meeting point for the villagers to come together. It is planned to give services as Cem Square, burial procedures, sacrificing animals and organizing dinners to our society pursuant to the Alewi culture.

Our project continues with the support of Karlı village improvement organizations in Istanbul and Germany and with the support of the headman of Karlı village who is also one of our administrators.

1.2.4.    Particular added-value elements

The Alawism cannot get a share from the national income according to laws of Turkish Republic. None of the Alewis is recruited in the Presidency of Religious Affairs. After our years of legal efforts, it is finally accepted that Alawism should be included as an optional course in schools and it should be included in the religion section of our identity cards. Although the rules were accepted in the European court of human rights, the current government has not put these rules into force yet[3].

In Sivas, on the 2nd of July, 1993, in an event held to commemorate “Pir Sultan Abdal”, many Alewi people and artists were stuck in a hotel and the hotel was burnt after the provocations. For 8 hours, no public officials or security guards took any precautions. As a result of this, 35 Alewis were burned to death and poisoned by the smoke. Then one of the lawyers who defended the suspects became minister of justice in this process. Others were rewarded by getting positions as ministers and MPs in the current parliament[4]. Cafer Ercakmak who was accused as a villain of the peace could not be captured for years and later this year he died of a heart attack in his house which was only 600 metres away from the hotel[5].

The history of Alawism embodies a number of such dreary incidents. Despite all these hitches, hatred does not exist in Alawism. Alewis are forgiving people. The Alewis were banished many times and although they were deprived of their homes, they continued their worship in mountains secretly when appropriate. The Alewis who never forgot the mountains hosting them want to honour their debt to these mountains. This is one the project’s objectives.

1.3.       Description of the action

Alawism had to be performed confidentially due to the pressure and cruelty in Anatolia. The written sources of Alawism were lost in time systematically and consciously. For this reason, Alawism came to these days thanks to its poets by being nourished by the oral memory. Especially for the last 20 years, many important steps were taken in terms of organising. However, these steps were accumulated only in big cities and they try to maintain their worships representatively. These efforts come into existence by individual supports and there are problems about their sustainability.

Our efforts are based on voluntary work. Our efforts are supported by the individuals themselves and financed by the members. Contrary to many religious organizations, they are not structured on a financial organizational model. It is less successful compared to the other religious organizations. Therefore, we want to overcome our deficiencies with our knowledge and energy.

Our efforts will spread to all sections of the society starting from the bottom and stipulate institutionalization in accordance with the requirements of the Alewi culture by creating an institutionalized culture. We predict a matrix organization as a management pattern. There are 12 administrators pursuant to Alewi rituals. There are four main categories as religion, education, administration and organization. There are three administrations in each category. The specialized administrators in these categories interact with each other in interdisciplinary approaches (It’s symbolized in our logo; 4 squares for each category and 40 triangles for each member circled by 12 leaflets). Each of the four categories includes a subcategory consisting of 10 voluntary members representing the council which consists of 40 members[6].

The problems encountered are conveyed to the administrators specialized in their subjects, then the problems are negotiated by all the administrators and a solution is created. Since the project is new and in case of some conflicts in the process of solving problems, the chairman is entitled. However, the chairmanship here is thought to be symbolic, since all the decisions are taken in a democratic way.

The new world order and modernization transforms people to monotypes. Many rituals belonging to the old world face the danger of extinction thanks to this mechanized world order. To adjust to this change and transformation, we plan to have social agreements in micro scaled units. The Alewi culture has provided this social peace in itself for centuries. We want to serve the humanity with our philosophy which has always been a model for the social peace again as we used to do in the past.

Our project has been completed with all the details[7]. We laid the base for our construction with our experienced partners[8]. All the construction work is done in accordance with the legal regulations. Due to the severe weather conditions in winter and financial impossibilities, we will restart the construction in summer. The construction is estimated to end in July, 2013. We have no doubt about the fact that after this date the next generations will sustain this service forever.

2          Checklist for concept note

EuropeAid/131865/L/ACT/TR

EIDHR CBSS Turkey Programme, Restricted Call for Proposals 2011, Budget line: 19 04 01