Bektashi Order

The temporary resignation of the former leader of the opposition Democratic Party Lulzim Basha in March last year has prevented the party from registering for the May local elections.

This is because some key documents submitted to the Central Elections Commission, CEC, should have had his signature.

The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) deputies have submitted a bill to the parliament for the Culture and Tourism Ministry to cover the lighting expenses of the cemevis, Alevi houses of worship.

The bill also proposes that the water costs will be met at a discount or free of charge.

The Alevi-Bektashi Culture and Cemevi Presidency will be established to meet Alevi-Bektashi citizens' demands and institutionalize the administration of cemevis, Alevi houses of worship, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has announced.

Following President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's statement that the government is extending efforts to meet Alevi-Bektashi citizens' demands, local media has alleged that five regulations will be made for cemevis, Alevi houses of worship.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said the government is extending efforts to meet Alevi-Bektashi citizens' demands determined during visits by officials to 1,585 cemevis and that 5,600 of 8,740 requests made have already been fulfilled.

An important 17th-century painting of a prominent Muslim mystic will be put up for sale by an auction house in the Netherlands on June 8.

The 1651 painting of Haji Bektash Veli, a prominent Alevi religious figure who lived and taught in Anatolia from 1209 to 1271, will be auctioned on June 8 by the Oriental Art Auction House in the Dutch city of Hattem.

Albania's parliament on Friday voted to set up a commission to examine the possible ousting of the country's President, Ilir Meta.

It came after a.group of ruling Socialist deputies requested his dismissal, accusing him of interfering in the April 25 legislative elections in violation of the constitution.

Pressure is growing on the Albanian government over its "anti-defamation" laws, after the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, CoE, said it had asked its advisory body, the Venice Commission, for its opinion.

Albanian President Ilir Meta speaking to the media in Tirana on 20 December 2019. Photo: Malton Dibra/LSA

The new laws "could place the Albania on the brink of authoritarianism and endanger its [EU] integration and the very existence of democracy in the country," Meta wrote in the explanatory note accompanying his decree.

The former chairman of the Alevi Bektaşi Federation, an umbrella organization of the Alevi community in Turkey, has criticized references of cemevis in the latest curriculum presented by the Education Ministry, which do not describe cemevis as a house of worship.