It was\u00a0Turkey\u2019s Shia (Jaafari) community’s turn to be offended by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, as he\u00a0criticized\u00a0the Gulen faith movement, which\u00a0he holds responsible for revealing the corruption files.\u00a0Talking about Gulenists on a TV program,\u00a0Erdogan said,\u00a0“These people have three major characteristics. They practice\u00a0taqiyya<\/em>\u00a0[religiously sanctioned dissimulation],\u00a0they lie, they slander. As a result they are involved in sedition, malice.\u00a0They are far ahead of Shia’s. Shia’s cannot compete with them.\u201d Many news websites quoted Erdogan verbatim.<\/p>\n The protest demonstration Jaafaris had planned for Istanbul was canceled at the last minute. Caferi-Der Chairman Sinan Kilic explained why to\u00a0Al-Monitor<\/em>, saying, “The atmosphere at Okmeydani [Istanbul\u2019s predominantly Alevi district]\u00a0and the killing of Burakcan [Karamanoglu] showed us the intention of dragging Turkey [into] a dangerous process. In such an atmosphere, street actions can provide material to provocateurs.\u00a0If a stray bullet kills one child, it will be impossible to hold back the Alevis and Jaafaris. The genie will be out of the bottle, and the country will suffer.\u201d<\/p>\n Journalist Mahmud Gok, also a Jaafari, told\u00a0Al-Monitor<\/em>,\u00a0“The labeling of Jaafaris, true citizens of this land, as tricksters, slanderers and liars has inflicted serious injury. There is anger.\u00a0Jaafaris have never been a community as described by the prime minister. To the contrary, Jaafaris are a faith community who sacrifice their own rights just to avoid discord. I don\u2019t think the prime minister said that intentionally. This may well be a reflection of his prejudiced subconscious knowledge.\u201d<\/p>\n True, Erdogan\u2019s accumulation of knowledge conditioned by the dictum \u201cthere are four just sects\u201d can be damaging when it spins\u00a0out of control.\u00a0When Erdogan, who dismissed the Alevis \u2014\u00a0who wanted to\u00a0open a cemevi\u00a0(prayer house)\u00a0at Istanbul\u2019s Karacaahment district \u2014 said, \u201cCemevi is [a] festivity house. What permission [are they]\u00a0talking about?\u201d he was only yet the mayor of Istanbul. When the Alevis nevertheless opened that cemevi, Erdogan called it a \u201cmonstrosity.\u201d<\/p>\n He continues to step on more toes with his gaffes.\u00a0In 2011,\u00a0he\u00a0referred to books\u00a0about himself\u00a0by saying,\u00a0\u201cTo them we are Jews, Armenians and forgive me,\u00a0Greeks.\u201d\u00a0In 2013, when accusing the Syrian regime of the\u00a0Reyhanli bombing, he said,\u00a0\u201cOur 53 Sunni citizens were martyred.\u201d<\/p>\n Jaafaris, who have become more visible in recent years with the\u00a0Ashura observances, have had problems with the state before, but direct confrontation\u00a0with the government is a new phenomenon.\u00a0It wasn\u2019t long ago that Turkey was actually debating democratic options that would please the different faith groups in the country.\u00a0Selahaddin Ozgunduz, the leader of the Jaafari community, was invited to an Alevi workshop in 2011. But since then, there has been rapid regression to discriminatory and damning policies, a tragic turn from a state that listens to one\u00a0that suppresses.\u00a0According to Gok, \u201cOther groups outside the official ideologies are also denied their rights, just as Jaafaris are. They can neither easily use their mosques, nor have places where they offer religious education, or\u00a0have no recognized holy days. The government simply considers them to be nonexistent.\u201d<\/p>\n Saga of getting organized<\/p>\n To better understand the Jaafiri problems with the state, we have to rewind a bit. Made up of mostly Azeris living in the eastern provinces of Kars and Igdir, there are between 700,000 to 3,000,000 Jaafaris now scattered to western cities. Jaafaris, who earlier did not participate in civil society organizations other than to build and maintain mosques, made a new beginning with Caferi-Der in 2006.\u00a0A local court decree\u00a0closed down Caferi-Der, but the higher court overruled it with a new law on associations passed in 2004.<\/p>\n After that episode, the number of Jaafari civil society organizations surpassed 20.\u00a0Among the key problems of the Jaafaris is the status of their mosques\u00a0and biased teaching in schools.\u00a0Jaafaris are uncomfortable with the attitude of official, powerful Religious Affairs Department (RDA)\u00a0that doesn\u2019t recognize even all the Sunni sects but confines its interest only to Hanefis.\u00a0The RDA wants Shiite mosques to come under its control. Jaafaris, however, insist that mosques and imams should be independent of state authority. In Turkey, there are about 300 Jaafari mosques and\u00a0mesjids<\/em>\u00a0(smaller prayer halls), 70 of them in Istanbul. Now a massive complex that will include a mosque,\u00a0library, auditorium, cafeteria and TV-radio studio is under construction in Istanbul\u2019s Halkali district, where the Jaafari population is concentrated. According to Kilic,\u00a0neither the local administration nor the government has contributed to its construction, which is financed by the community.<\/p>\n Change that came with the Iranian revolution<\/p>\n Jaafaris, like the Alevis, have always been ostracized by the state, But after the 1979\u00a0Islamic Revolution in Iran that was followed by the Sept. 12,\u00a01980, coup in Turkey, the state eased the way for Sunni religious schools and began to perceive Jaafaris as a threat. But, because of ethnic ties, Jaafaris are closer to Azerbaijan and as source of emulation recognize the Najaf house in Iraq instead of Qom in Iran. Nevertheless, in the Turkish state\u00a0Jaafaris were vulnerable to Iranian influence \u2014\u00a0although it was the Sunnis who were most influenced by the Iranian revolution. The RDA was determined to minimize the Iranian influence by demanding all Jaafari mosques be handed over to its custody. A delegation under Selahaddin Ozgunduz met with the then-Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz and secured the annulment of the decision.<\/p>\n Jaafaris thought they would be more at ease under Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP), but strange incidents that wiped out initial optimism took place:\u00a0Jaafaris were disturbed by the detention of some people on\u00a0charges of spying for Iran. Kilic thinks that these operations can be attributed to Gulenist penetration of the police, whose adversity to the Shiite\u00a0community is known\u00a0as well as the government\u2019s tolerance of this adversity.\u00a0Kilic said to\u00a0Al-Monitor<\/em>,\u00a0\u201cFor the past three years, pro-government media and dubious others have been saying that we are Iranian agents. We react but nobody listens.\u201d<\/p>\n “Sunnification”\u00a0policy<\/p>\n The AKP government tried to control houses of worship with the slogan of \u201cthere is but one mosque,\u201d while implying to Jaafaris and Alevis: “Either become Sunni\u00a0or call yourself another religion.\u201d\u00a0Kilic said a draft bill prepared by the RDA in July 2013 again called for placing all mosques under its control. But the bill was amended in parliament and the Jaafari and Alevi prayer places did not go under the RDA. There are still efforts. The RDA makes offers to Jaafari mosque such as, “Let us attach your mosque to the department, and we will pay the salary to the imam you choose.\u201d<\/p>\n Kilic explained why Jaafaris did not accept this offer: “They are trying to attach our mosque to the department by exploiting the hardships experienced by Jaafari mosques. But according to our beliefs, the mosque should be independent of public authority. This enables the imams to be just. Imams cannot be taking orders from the state or institutions. Moreover, the department is sending sermons to mosques based on Hanefi beliefs. But our sermons are always of two parts. The first part is on general religious affairs, and the second is on problems of the community.\u201d<\/p>\n Opening did not open anything<\/p>\n In the Alevi workshop, Jaafaris came out with two demands: \u201c[1] Change the structure of the Department of Religious Affairs. There should be chairs for other schools of thought. If there is equitable representation, than the Jaafaris could receive their part from the budget for their religious services. [2] Shiism should be taught properly in schools. The curriculum to be prepared by Jaafaris should be checked by the Ministry of National Education and introduced into the curriculum.\u201d<\/p>\n The first request was outright refused. The curriculum request,\u00a0although accepted, was stalled with bureaucratic excuses. According to Jaafaris, the ministry\u2019s own curriculum on Shiism is incomplete and\u00a0inaccurate. Kilic thinks the government is not sincere. \u201cThe government is not searching for a true solution to the question. It is guided by political considerations and is downplaying the issues. If they had been serious, we could have solved all the problems in a month.\u201d<\/p>\n Political marginalization<\/p>\n Jaafaris feel they are politically\u00a0excluded. After eight years of staying out, in 2011 they succeeded in sending one parliamentarian each from the opposition CHP\u00a0and Nationalist Action\u00a0Party (MHP). But they have no meaningful position in the AKP. Although the attendance of then-parliamentary speaker Bulent Arinc at Ashura observances in 2007\u00a0and Erdogan\u2019s own participation in 2010 had offered important opportunities to eliminate some of the prejudices, marginalization persisted. In 2011, despite an earlier promise, the AKP offered a Jaafari candidate on the Istanbul slate a slot that had no chance of winning in the elections. Jaafaris’ rejection by the AKP exceeded that of earlier conservative parties.<\/p>\n Kilic said they were not even allowed representation in the municipal council when Erdogan was the mayor of Istanbul. He doesn\u2019t believe that their exclusion will change with the approaching March 30 elections. \u201cTheir sources of knowledge about Jaafaris are tainted. After we reacted, nobody called on us. We don\u2019t think they will call. The prime minister is trying to consolidate his constituency, while pursuing a very dangerous policy of categorizing and separating society into segments.\u201d<\/p>\n It is a misfortune that Erdogan\u2019s words were uttered at a time when sectarian tensions with the Shiite world of 200 million are escalating.<\/p>\n