Türk Kültürü ve Hacı Bektaş Veli Araştırma Dergisi

9-41

Authors: H. Dursun GÜMÜŞOĞLU

It is well known that Ottoman Empire built numerous mosques, masjids, madrasah, inn, hammam and tekkes during its 600 years of history. Especially within the yards of masjids and tekkes, there are special burial grounds or graveyards which are called ‘hazire’ in Turkish. It can be stated that all the historical sites, relics, tombstones, graveyards and epitaphs are founding stones and cultural bridges of our society, connecting the past with the future.During the Ottoman reign, land was granted to Bektashi dervishes and dervishes of the other sects, who participated in conquests of Anatolia and Balkan Peninsula, in order to build their tekkes. One example is the tekke at Merdivenköy – İstanbul, which was granted by Orhan Gazi to Şahkulu Sultan and Mansur Baba who had come from Khorasan in 14th century and participated in the battle of Pelecanum, in order to build their tekke where a mausoleumexists. This graveyard in Merdivenköy, which is known as Mansur Baba Graveyard, is one of the many historical treasures standing against time. In this graveyard there are numerous tombstones, belonging to both Bektashi and other dervishes, written in Turkish but with a modified form of Arabic alphabet, which is generally referred as Ottoman writing. Thierry Zarcone reported in 1991 that there were 69 tombstones in the graveyard; but unfortunately, only 51 remain today, excluding foot-end stones. These tombstones belong to a period of 168 years, from 1753 to 1921 (from 1166 to 1137, according to Islamic calendar). In this study, all the tombstones were photographed; the writings were rewritten with Latin alphabet and then simplified to modern Turkish for a better understanding. Our aim was to create awareness and draw attention to the remaining Ottoman tombstones, surviving despite all the neglect and mistreatment, and sharing their contents. These tombstones bear many traces from the past including thoughts, beliefs and aspects of social life.

63-70

Authors: Salahaddin BEKKİ

The dhikr consisting of twelve services performed by the leaders of the so-called dede or baba is called Ayin-i cem in the The Alevi-Bektashi communities. One of the main elements of the secret cem ceremonies of the Alevis who had to live in remote places for a long time, is Semah. Semah groups are founded on the sayings of Pîr Sultan Abdal, Shah Ismail Hatayi and Kul Himmet and performed by specific a number of people consisting men and women called pervane/peyk in the accompany of the zakir in the Ayin-i cem ceremonies. The Semah groups have become a visible identity of the city Alevis by acquiring a new dimension through the migration of the Alevis from the village to the city. The Semah groups, which was removed from the traditional context and whose lyrics and musical elements are highlighted, started to be performed as folk songs by TRT artists and by bards coming from the Alevi tradition in the 70’s. The visual aspect of the Semah groups appealing to both the ear and the heart can also be considered as a dance with a high level of aesthetics.In this study, first, the emergence of Semah groups and the place in the Alevis-Bektashi belief system were examined from the written sources. Then, the values expressed in the Semah groups were emphasized. Finally, this study tried to explain the place of the new situation which emerged as the practice of Semah groups as independently from Ayin-i cem ceremonies in Turkish culture.

87-103

Authors: Erdal AKSOY and Zeynep Serap TEKTEN AKSÜRMELİ

Whether Turkish population can be defined as a “ethnic minority” or “diaspora” on the basis of how to define Turkish existence in Europe has recently been an issue of discussion. The cultural and political position of of the Alevi community, who migrated to Germany as “guest workers” with other Turkish migrants, in Turkish population in Germany further complicates the issue. In this article, Alevi community living in Germany is analyzed on the basis of the diaspora concept. Although the Alevi organizations in Germany are not homogenous, the organizational activities of Alevis strengthen the claim that Alevis form a seperate diaspora in Germany. Furthermore, other factors enabling political mobilization which are necessary for defining Alevis in Germany as a diaspora, are elaborated in the article. This study does not deny the existence of Alevis as a seperate diaspora in Germany, however, it points out that defining Alevi community as a seperate diaspora in Germany has some political and cultural consequences. Moreover, handling the Turkish existence in Germany as a totality rather than as fragmented diasporas is politically and culturally important to Turkish population in Germany. Therefore, instead of dividing The Turkish diasporic community into smaller different diasporas (such as Alevi, Dersim diaspora etc.), defending and demanding the rights unitedly as a “ethnic minority” and more importantly resisting the assimilation of Turkish people who are described as “foreign worker”, “ immigrant worker” in receiving countries, is considered as a better option for Turkish people in diaspora.

127-159

Authors: Adnan OKTAY

Rashid Ali Efendi, a Bektashi poet, was first mentioned by the Ottoman Authors (Osmanlı Müellifleri). He wrote his poems under the pseudonyms of Rashid and Kemter which were also adopted by other poets in their poems. Using multiple pseudonyms and the adoptations of these names by other poets led to the confusion in Rashid’s life and his literary personality. The only identified work of Rashid is Diwan which is claimed to be a voluminous one. Unfortunately, it could not be accessed in this study. The availbale copy of Rashid’s Diwan includes sixteen ghazals, seven nafases (Bektashi poem), two muxammases, and two musaddases. This work can be considered as a small diwan (diwancha) with this nature. It is understood from Rashid’s poems, he was a poet in love with Prophet Hazrat Muhammad and Hazrat Ali. Besides, he was a poet having a special love to Hazrat Hussain and Ahl al-Bayt. It is also possible to find the traces of the Jafferism, Haydarism, Bektashism and Hurufism in Rashid’s works.This study aims to understand the detection of Rashid Ali Efendi’s Diwan as a text and its investigation from a literary perspective. For these purposes, the catalog of manuscript libraries were searched and the copy of manuscript (Rashid’s Diwan) was obtained. The poems in that copy and the poems are claimed to be belonging to Rashid’s poetry in the other special works were examined with the method of comparison, analysis, sampling and explanation.

183-195

Authors: Mehmet DÖNMEZ and Hasan ÇELİK and Ergün ARMAĞAN

There are a number of methods in the Alevism-Bektashism belief, which is a sufistic interpretation of Islam. However, the most basic worship of Alevism-Bektashism is certainly “cemler”. “Cemlerˮ are regarded as a whole of the worship practices in which the decisions taken against the crimes committed by the candidates are applied as a social court and the candidates pass through the spiritual education in many ways and progress in their moral maturity. In the middle of the place where Cemler are made, there is a square where questions or graces are performed by coming in front of the sheikh. This square is called as “dâr square”. In front of the Hak-Muhammad-Ali post (in the presence of the sheikh), the questions and graces are made at this square and it is asked from “the dâr holding” spirits to account for their behaviors at the dâr square. It is for this reason that the Alevist-Bektashis are not considered to have fully experienced their beliefs without going through questioning-grace and dâr holding at the dâr square. In this study, we will first look through the window of the Alevi-Bektashi mysticism to try to explain the meanings of the concept of “dâr”. In the second part of the article, we will evaluate the dâr varieties and the meanings they carry in the Alevism-Bektashism belief as well as the basic concepts of the article like “dâr holding or dâr withdraw”. In the last part of the article, we will try to present brief information about the method of the deduction from the dâr, which is performed by the Alevi-Bektashi people after the spirits who “walk to the Hak”.

217-227

Authors: Türkan ARIK

This article investigates the subject of prayer for rain ceremonies among the Azerbaijani Turks, especially in the Nakhchivan region. The ceremony of prayer for rain is organized to end the drought and call the rain, which is the source of abundance. The main purpose of the article is to describe the process of prayer for rain ceremonies and to indicate the performed practices. At the same time, thes article tries to examine the similarities and different aspects of the rain prayer organizations among the Turkish people and to determine whether there are cultural connections between the ceremonies. It was aimed to base the research on the information gathered from the main sources. This article emphasizes the holiness of the rainwater in the Nakhchivan region and provides insights about the prayer for rain ceremonies faded into oblivion these days. This study revealed that the prayer for rain ceremonies have existed since ancient times and these ceremonies contain millennial belief hidden inside that could reach the present day. Moreover, the prayer for rain ceremonies held among the Turkish people has been organized for the the same purposes, and these beliefs and practices were transferred to the different geographical positions when immigration and displacement were carried out.