Shia Islam in Turkey

The reaction of representatives of the Bektashi (or Bektashi) sect in Turkey is being provoked by Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama’s plan to establish within his country’s territory a sovereign Muslim Bektashi Muslim state on the model of the Vatican.

The Bektashi sect (Bektaşi) of dervishes belongs to Sufi Islam and represents an important chapter in the history of Islam in the Middle East, Asia Minor, and the Balkans during the Ottoman period. It is a blend of Muslim faith, Christian Orthodox monasticism, and Masonic mysticism. The followers of this sect are monogamous, eat pork, and drink alcohol.

Hundreds of people marched on July 2 to commemorate the victims of an arson attack in which 33 intellectuals and two hotel personnel lost their lives in the Central Anatolian province of Sivas on the 30th anniversary of the massacre.

The Sivas Massacre, an arson attack staged on mostly Alevi intellectuals inside the Madımak Hotel that killed 33 intellectuals and two hotel personnel, was commemorated on its 29th anniversary on July 2 in the central Anatolian province of Sivas.

A waterfall in Turkey's Mediterranean province of Antalya has dried out due to the effects of global warming and low precipitation in a time when environmental disasters because of climate change are becoming more common.

The Sivas Massacre, an arson attack staged on mostly Alevi intellectuals inside the Madımak Hotel that killed 33 intellectuals and two hotel personnel, was commemorated on its 28th anniversary on July 2 in the Central Anatolian province of Sivas.

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.

The Cem Foundation, a foundation that represents a portion of Turkey's Alevi sect, has asked the Turkish Education Ministry for the concepts of "Salafism" and "jihad" to be removed from the renewed education curriculum, saying these concepts could make "radical religious groups" feel encouraged.

Compulsory religion classes in Turkish schools will be taught in such a way to approach all religions equally while an approach that championed Sunni Islam will reportedly be eliminated in accordance with European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) rulings, Education Minister İsmet Yılmaz has said.

According to official records, 2.25 million Syrians who escaped from civil war currently live in Turkey. While some of them are staying in refugee camps, thousands are attempting to continue their life in cities.