Television and the making of a transnational Alevi identity

Communicative ethnocide and Alevi television in the Turkish context

“…It is interesting to note, as we discuss later, that Cem TV, the only station not forced by the Turkish government to suspend its broadcasting, fits in most with the Turkish government’s attempts to define Alevism within Turkishness. This is most likely explained by the fact that, as I have observed previously, ‘ Cem TV is run by the Cem Foundation which espouses an Islamic understanding of Alevism, regarding it as a sect of Islam within the sufi tradition, and also emphasises its Turkish origins’ (Emre Cetin, 2018: 97).…”

“…The 2000s can be seen as an experimental period for Alevi business people and organisations who explored the use of satellite broadcasting mostly through European based stations. Among the stations that were established were TV Avrupa (based in Germany), Dem TV (based in the United Kingdom), Su TV (based in Germany and later in France), Duzgun TV and Kanal 12 (both based in Germany), Cem TV (based in Turkey), Yol TV (based in Germany and later in Turkey), and TV 10 (based in Germany and in Turkey) (Emre Cetin, 2018). Most of these television stations had only a brief existence, largely as a result of economic reasons along with the political disagreements among the owners that reflected the different political orientations within the Alevi community.…”

“…More recently the ‘illegitimate’ status of Alevis in Turkey, along with economic reasons, has resulted in many leaving Turkey for Western Europe and today there is a vibrant Alevi community in Europe with an estimated 400,000 to 600,000 Alevis in Germany (Massicard, 2010) and 300,000 in the United Kingdom (http://www.alevinet.org/SAP.aspx?pid = About_en-GB, accessed 15 July 2017). Transnational Alevi television has been a significant tool for connecting Alevis living in different countries and has been significant in constructing a transnational imagination for them (Emre Cetin, 2018). Three Alevi television stations, Cem TV, TV10 and Yol TV were on air before the coup attempt of July 2016, but following it, TV10 was closed down in September 2016 by decree under the government’s state of emergency and Yol TV’s broadcasting was suspended in December 2016 by the Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTUK) on the grounds of insulting the President, praising terrorist organisations and broadcasting without a Turkish licence.…”

Political Representation of Alevi Kurds in Turkey: Historical Trends and Main Transformations

“…Festivals, such as the Munzur Culture and Nature Festival (Munzur Kültür ve Doğa Festivali) organised annually since 2000 in Dersim, and other cultural activities have further strengthened the ties among Alevi communities (Sözen, 2019). Media and television broadcasts by Alevi groups have become part of the repertoire of Alevi mobilisations in the past decade and strengthened the sense of Alevi identity (Emre Cetin, 2018). In recent years, in addition to channels that cater for the Turkish Alevi community, such as Cem TV and Yol TV, in 2011 TV10 was established in Istanbul to cater for the Kurdish Alevi community and it regularly broadcasted in the Kurmanji and Zazaki dialects of the Kurdish language.…”