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Holy Lineages, Migration and Reformulation of Alevi Tradition: A Study of the Derviş Cemal Ocak from Erzincan

2010; Routledge; Volume: 37; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/13530194.2010.524440

1469-3542

Caroline Tee,

Turkish Literature and Culture

Abstract This sustained ethnographic essay on the Alevis traces the development and fortunes of the Derviş Cemal holy lineage (ocak), first by considering its history, and then the way that it has begun to change and reformulate. Of particular interest is the way that its founders travelled very widely throughout Anatolia before settling in the east, in Erzincan, only to find themselves much more recently caught up in the civil strife that now tragically marks that region. Today, they are seeking, as do many movements, to reinvigorate their history and traditions through electronic media, and the creation of associations devoted to their founder. The piece concludes with the translation into English of a sixteenth century document outlining the sacred lineage. Acknowledgements I am grateful to Yüsel Çetin, Ali Rıza Taşkesen and Hüseyin Yorulmaz from the Derviş Cemal Ocak for their help researching this article. Notes 1 See CitationKarin Vorhoff, Zwischen Glaube, Nation und neuer Gemeinschaft: Alevitische Identitat in der Türkei (Berlin: Klaus Schwarz Verlag, 1995); CitationMartin Sökefeld, Struggling for Recognition: The Alevi Movement in Germany and in Transnational Space (New York; London: Berghahn Books, 2008) and CitationElise Massicard L'autre Turquie: le mouvement aléviste et ses territoires (Paris: Presses universitaires de France, 2005) on migration, Aleviism in diaspora and developments since 1980. See CitationPeter A. Andrews (ed.), Ethnic Groups in the Republic of Turkey (Wiesbaden: L. Reichert, 2002) on Alevi geographic distribution. 2 The word ocak literally means 'hearth', but it is used amongst the Alevis to denote an extended family unit who claim a shared, holy descent from a particular medieval saint. See CitationMartin van Bruinessen, Mullas, Sufis and Heretics: The Role of Religion in Kurdish Society. Collected Articles (Istanbul: The Isis Press, 2000) where it is explained that, 'the hearth (ojaq), especially that in the house of a sayyid lineage, is the sacred centre around which life revolves; the lineage itself is also called ojaq' (p. 263). 3 For a full discussion of the religious beliefs underpinning Alevi-Bektaşi rituals, see CitationIrène Mélikoff, Hadj Bektach: Un Mythe et ses Avatars (Leiden: Brill, 1998); and Au Banquet des Quarante: exploration au cœur du bektachisme-alevisme (Istanbul: Isis, 2007) and CitationJ.K. Birge, The Bektashi Order of Dervishes (London: Luzac, 1994). On the cem ceremony itself and for rural Alevi ethnographies, see David Shankland (2008) and CitationAltan Gokalp, Têtes Rouges et Bouches Noires: une confrérie tribale de l'Ouest anatolien (Paris: Société d'ethnographie, 1980). 4 See David Shankland, The Alevis in Turkey: The emergence of a Secular Islamic Tradition (London: RoutledgeCurzon, 2003). 5 On religion and identity amongst the Kurds in Turkey, see CitationMartin van Bruinessen, Agha Sheikh and State: on the social and political organisation of Kurdistan (London: Zed Books, 1992). For an introduction to the debate on Aleviism's inclusion within Islam, see CitationMatti Moosa, Extremist Shi'ites: the Ghulat sects (Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 1987), who puts the Alevis in the category of Shi'a ghulat (extreme) sects, and Irène CitationMélikoff, Hadj Bektach, and CitationAhmet Yaşar Ocak, Türk sûfiliğine bakışlar (Perspectives on Turkish Sufism) (Istanbul: İletişim, 1996), who emphasise instead Aleviism's pre-Islamic, shamanistic origins. 6 Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities (London/New York: Verso, 2006). 7 The precise meaning of the term Ehl-i Beyt, meaning 'the family of the Prophet', can be understood in different ways. The orthodox view is given in the Citation Encyclopaedia of Islam as, 'the Prophet, Ali, Fatima, al-Hasan and al-Husayn, together with the wives of the Prophet' (Vol. II, p. 258) Amongst the Alevis it is not uncommon for the term to be used in self-reference, i.e. they consider themselves to be the true family of the Prophet. This is the case in the Derviş Cemal Ocak. 8 See, for example, CitationDavid Shankland, The Alevis in Turkey: The Emergence of a Secular Islamic Tradition (London: RoutledgeCurzon, 2003) and CitationErnest Gellner, Saints of the Atlas (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1969) especially the discussion on Ahansal genealogy in Chapter 9. 9 L. Gardet, Encyclopaedia of Islam, 'karama', Vol. IV (1978), p. 615. 10 The Redhouse Turkish-English Dictionary (Istanbul: Ayhan Matbaası, Citation2002), p. 513. 11 Michael Gilsenan, Recognizing Islam: Religion and Society in the Modern Middle East (Istanbul: I.B. Tauris, 2000), p. 79. 12 Ibid. 13 Çakırcı means falconer. 14 Eren means 'one who has achieved mystical enlightenment'. 15 For further instances of sacred trees and tree cults in Anatolia, see CitationMargaret Hasluck (ed.), Christianity and Islam under the Sultans: F.W. Hasluck (Vols. 1 and 2) (Istanbul: Isis, 2000), volume I, pp. 173–6 and 213–14, and on similarities in this area with the Ahl-I Haqq in Iran, see van Bruinessen (Citation2000), pp. 263–5. 17 According to the informant here, a green hand, attributed to the Arab-i Kesk (Zazaki, meaning 'Green Arab') was frequently seen behind Şeyh İbrahim when he was demonstrating keramet. The Green Arab is considered to be synonymous with the Koranic figure, Hızır. 16 http://erzincanzurun.azbuz.ekolay.net/readArticle.jsp?objectID = 5000000010866736. 18 Zazaki is a north-western Iranian language with a concentration of speakers in Tunceli. Although it has been influenced by its proximity to Kurmanji Kurdish, it is genealogically closer to Gurani and the Iranian Adhari dialect. See the entry 'Zaza' by L. Paul in The Encyclopaedia of Islam, Vol. XI (2002), pp. 491–92. See also the same author's study of the Zazaki language (CitationL. Paul, Zazaki: Grammatik und Versuch einer Dialektologie (Wiesbaden: L. Reichert, 1998). 19 This dede considers both his parents to have been ethnically Turkmen. 20 Ziyaret (Arabic, ziyara) is 'a pious visitation, pilgrimage to a holy place, tomb or shrine' (S. Reese, 'ziyara', Encyclopaedia of Islam, Vol. XI (2002), pp. 524–39). For an extensive discussion on this subject, see CitationDale F. Eickelman and James Piscatori, Muslim Travellers: Pilgrimage, Migration and the Religious Imagination (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1990). The chapter by Nancy Tapper, entitled, 'Ziyaret: gender, movement and exchange in a Turkish community' offers an interesting comparison with the practice of ziyaret in a Turkish Sunni community, which, unlike in Alevi communities, is largely the preserve of women. 21 Erzincan city is the base of Turkey's 'Third Army', which has the mandate of patrolling all of Eastern and South-Eastern Anatolia. 22 See the article by CitationKrisztina Kehl-Bodrogi, 'Kurds, Turks, or a People in Their Own Right? Competing Collective Identities Among the Zazas' in The Muslim World, 89 (1999), pp. 439–54. 23 Redhouse Dictionary, p. 357. 25 See CitationShankland, The Alevis in Turkey, pp. 128–31 for specific examples of social reconciliation in a görgü cemi. 24 Görgü cemi is pluralized here, and throughout this article, in Turkish rather than more awkwardly in English. 26 See CitationHasluck Christianity and Islam under the Sultans, Vol. I, pp. 266–76 for a discussion on the figure of Hızır and his manifestations in Alevi belief, as well as in different religious traditions in Anatolia. 28 A discussion of the Vahdetname and its centrality to Bektaşi practice and belief can be found in CitationBirge, The Bektashi Order of Dervishes, pp. 120–5, along with partial translations into English from two different versions of the poem. 27 See for example CitationSökefeld, Struggling for Recognition, pp. 146–52; CitationShankland, The Alevis in Turkey, pp. 121–8, or Peter A. Andrews' article in this issue. For an account of the cem by an Alevi dede, see CitationYaman, Alevilik: İnanç, Edeb, Erkan (Istanbul: Ufuk Reklamcılık ve Matbaacılık, 2007), pp. 185–226. 29 For more on Alevi-Bektaşi creation mythology, see Mélikoff, Hadj Bektach, and CitationBirge, The Bektashi Order of Dervishes. 30 CitationBirge, The Bektashi Order of Dervishes, p. 69. 31 See CitationVorhoff, Zwischen Glaube, Nation und neuer Gemeinschaft and CitationSökefeld, Struggling for Recognition. 32 See CitationShankland, The Alevis in Turkey, p. 164. 33 By Hüseyin Yalçın, published in Adana by Karahan Kitabevi in April 2010. 34 A commonly used Alevi religious expression meaning something approximating, 'Let's embrace the way to Truth'. 35 For the full text of a Düvaz İmamı, see CitationYaman, Alevilik, pp. 207–12; for a list of the oniki hızmet, see pp. 191–93. 36 Sema is the rotational, ritual dance performed in the cem. 37 See CitationSökefeld, Struggling for Recognition, pp. 152–77, for more on modern cem ceremonies amongst the German Alevi diaspora, with particular reference to the changing role of the dede in them. 38 A vakıf is a religious foundation; a dernek is a non-religious association. 39 My translation of part of a Facebook message sent from Yüksel Çetin to all (450) members of the group 'Sultan Seyyid Cemal (Derviş Cemal) Ocağı' on 16 February 2010. 40 There was a close institutional relationship between the Bektaşi Order and the Ottoman Janissery corps. See CitationBirge, The Bektashi Order of Dervishes. 41 The redevelopment work has received positive coverage in the local media. See, for example, the reports by Döğer Haber on 29 August 2009 and again on 6 April 2010 at http://www.dogerhaber.com/haberdetay.asp?bolum = 3874&uyeid = 10 and http://www.dogerhaber.com/haberdetay.asp?bolum = 4702&uyeid = 10; also, the report by Kocatepe Gazetesi on 7 April 2010 at http://www.kocatepegazetesi.com/pdf/page/07-04-2010-8-KOCATEPE.pdf. 42 Memleket means 'homeland', and can denote a country, region or even a specific village. It is a powerful cultural concept amongst both Alevis and Sunnis in Turkey. 43 http://erzincanzurun.azbuz.ekolay.net/blog/yazi/oku/5000000003547840/SEYYID-DERVIS-CEMAL-SOY-SECERESI [accessed 22 July 10]. 44 Published by Karahan Kitabevi, Adana in April 2010.