Cyprus-Forum.com

[YFred]

Re: the unreligious nature of Turkish Cypriots.

There is a theory that shortly after the Ottoman conquest of Cyprus the Ottoman rulers banished a large number of Alevis, considered to be heretics by mainstream Sunni Islam, to the island. This, it is argued, explains why Turkish Cypriots are not very religious. I have known a lot of Alevi people in Turkey, and would agree that their way of thinking is remarkably similar to that of Turkish Cypriots.

The following is said to be a decree issued by the Ottoman Sultan on 9 May 1577 ordering the expulsion to Cyprus of all people with unorthodox religious views (taken to be a reference to Alevi people) from the "Province of the Greeks", referring to the Eastern Black Sea region that was mainly populated by Pontian Greeks at the time.



You can find the text of this decree transliterated into the Roman script here.

http://www.habercem.com/haberdetay.asp? ... tegoryid=4

I am grateful to one of our regular posters here for first suggesting this idea to me when I met him last year. It struck a chord with me at the time. However, I have one problem with this theory. In Anatoila the Alevis have suffered centuries of oppression but have always doggedly clung on to their beliefs and have managed to keep their faith alive. On the other hand, Turkish Cypriots, however nominally, profess to be mainstream Sunni Moslems. Surely if it were true that most Turkish Cypriots do trace their origins back to Alevis, they would also have kept their faith going on the island.

Tim, you are talking to the religously un-initated here. We may have similarities but I don't think we have any connections. The Biological life is full of living things being evolved to look similar without being the same family.

When will you shut up with your stupidities ....

Till the cows come home.

[Tim Drayton]

I have known a lot of Alevi people in Turkey, and would agree that their way of thinking is remarkably similar to that of Turkish Cypriots.

I assume by similar you mean that they dont practise islam as a religious sunni would.

[...]

Key Alevi characteristics include:

* Love and respect for all people (“The important thing is not religion, but being a human being”)
* Tolerance towards other religions and ethnic groups (“If you hurt another person, the ritual prayers you have done are counted as worthless”)

[...]

I am too busy at the moment to go into this in great detail, but I notice a great many similarities between Alevis in Anatolia and Turkish Cypriots. I am referring to far more than just a lack of outward display of religious devotion. For example, the Alevi characteristics mentioned above are also, in my experience, typical of Turkish Cypriots, whom I find to be far more tolerant, open minded and democratic than most people on the Turkish mainland. I think it is also fair to say that while in mainland Turkey the Kemalist reform process has stalled at a halfway stage, the Turkish Cypriots fully embraced all of these reforms at a very early stage - even though they were living outside the borders of the Republic. Interestingly, in Turkey it is the Alevis who are among the strongest supporters of Kemalism. In fact, some people have gone as far as to claim that Kemalism is really a political programme based on Alevi values. Despite these similarities, I still have problems with the hypothesis, which is advanced in the link I quoted above, that most Turkish Cypriots are descendants of Alevis. I just raised it for the sake of argument to see what others think.

[YFred]

I have known a lot of Alevi people in Turkey, and would agree that their way of thinking is remarkably similar to that of Turkish Cypriots.

I assume by similar you mean that they dont practise islam as a religious sunni would.

[...]

Key Alevi characteristics include:

* Love and respect for all people (“The important thing is not religion, but being a human being”)
* Tolerance towards other religions and ethnic groups (“If you hurt another person, the ritual prayers you have done are counted as worthless”)

[...]

I am too busy at the moment to go into this in great detail, but I notice a great many similarities between Alevis in Anatolia and Turkish Cypriots. I am referring to far more than just a lack of outward display of religious devotion. For example, the Alevi characteristics mentioned above are also, in my experience, typical of Turkish Cypriots, whom I find to be far more tolerant, open minded and democratic than most people on the Turkish mainland. I think it is also fair to say that while in mainland Turkey the Kemalist reform process has stalled at a halfway stage, the Turkish Cypriots fully embraced all of these reforms at a very early stage - even though they were living outside the borders of the Republic. Interestingly, in Turkey it is the Alevis who are among the strongest supporters of Kemalism. In fact, some people have gone as far as to claim that Kemalism is really a political programme based on Alevi values. Despite these similarities, I still have problems with the hypothesis, which is advanced in the link I quoted above, that most Turkish Cypriots are descendants of Alevis. I just raised it for the sake of argument to see what others think.

Tim have you not heard what DT said. We are special. The chosen ones. Know what I mean?