Alevis in the 1960s. From Mobility to Mobilization
Abstract
In Turkey in the 1960s and 1970s there was a strong convergence between leftism and the socio-religious identity of Aeviness. The term Alevi encompasses a number of different groups that are united by their heterodox and syncretic practices of worship, some of which share traits with Shi'ite Islam and Muslim mysticism, but many of which are hard to link to Islamic practices. Starting from the 1960s, many left-wing activists, radical or not, including their leaders, were Alevis. There is a further symbolical and discursive dimension to this convergence, however...