The Reckoning of Pluralism: Political Belonging and the Demands of History in Turkey.

This article examines the complex and paradoxical position of the Alevi community in Turkish politics and society, focusing on their relations with the Turkish state. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork in the Anatolian city of Çorum, the analysis highlights how Alevis, a Muslim group incorporating Shi'ism and Sufism and constituting about 15 percent of Turkey's population, navigate their identity amid state efforts to regulate religious pluralism and historicize their difference. The discussion addresses tensions between the public visibility of Alevi rituals as cultural practices and Alevis' desire for religious recognition, as well as the community's contested place within Turkish modernity and nationalism. While the work provides a broad overview of these dynamics, it offers limited ethnographic detail on everyday Alevi life and omits deeper exploration of intersections with Leftist politics and Kurdish identity, which are significant to understanding the full context of Alevi experiences in Turkey.