Gelenekle Sol Arasında Sıkışmış Bir Siyasal Hareket: (Türkiye) Birlik Partisi
Birlik Partisi (BP) 1966’da bir grup Alevinin bir araya gelerek oluşturduğu bir siyasal partidir. Daha sonra adı Türkiye Birlik Partisi (TBP) olacak olan parti siyasal yaşamı boyunca çeşitli ideolojik dönüşümler geçirmiştir. (T)BP’nin kuruluş aşamasında seslenmeye çalıştığı kitlenin “geleneksel Alevi” kesimi olduğu görülmektedir. Bu çerçevede Hacı Bektaş Dergâhı’nın (HBD) partiye önemli sayılabilecek ölçüde katkı sağladığı söylenebilir. HBD’nin parti içerisindeki ağırlığına rağmen çeşitli faktörlerin katkısıyla (T)BP bir sol parti hüviyeti kazanmıştır. Aleviliği daha çok solun dışında kültürel/dinsel bir temsil olarak gören HBD ve temsil ettiği kesimler süreç içerisinde partiden uzaklaşmışlardır. TBP 1969 seçimlerinde gelenekle kurduğu bağ sayesinde parlamentoya 8 vekil göndererek görece başarılı bir performans sergilemiştir. Aynı başarı 1973 ve 1977 seçimlerinde görülmemektedir. Bu çalışma her iki dönem arasındaki farkı TBP’nin gelenek ya da solla kurduğu bağı dikkate alarak incelemeye çalışmaktadır. Bu inceleme partinin programları ve parti ileri gelenlerinin söylev ve demeçlerini dikkate alarak yapılmıştır. Çalışmada betimsel ve tarihsel araştırma yöntemleri kullanılmıştır.
A Political Movement Stucked between Tradition and Left: (Turkish) Unity Party Open Access
The Unity Party (BP) was a political party that was established by a group of Alevis in 1966. The party, which later came to be named the Turkish Unity Party (TBP), had gone through several ideological transformations throughout its political life. We know that “traditional” Alevis are a group that the TBP tried to address during its foundation period. Within this framework, we can conclude that the Hadji Bektashi Dervish Convent (HBD) contributed to the party on a seemingly significant scale. Despite the influence of the HBD within the party, the TBP gained the identity of a leftist party due to several factors. Meanwhile, with Alevism regarded as a cultural/religious representation rather than as a leftist ideology, the HBD and its representative sections alienated themselves from the party. Thanks to its connection with tradition, the TBP had shown a relatively successful performance by sending eight representatives to parliament. The same success, however, was not observed in the 1973 and 1977 elections. This study examines the difference in the party’s success between the period when it was founded and the 70s in an effort to consider the connection established by the TBP with tradition and/or the leftists. This examination was based on the party’s programs and the addresses and statements of the party’s dignitaries. Descriptive and historical research methods were used in the study.
A group of Alevis established the Birlik Partisi (BP; Unity Party) political party after the 1965 General Elections. The party changed its name to Türkiye Birlik Partisi (TBP; Turkish Unity Party) following the Turkish Military regime established on March 12, 1971, and the name continued for the remainder of its existence, i.e., until it was dissolved. Following the adoption of the 1961 Constitution, the political environment gained more freedom, and the establishment of the party during this time allowed a level of activism during a politically polarizing period. As it was gradually becoming difficult for the Alevis to easily express themselves, their primary demand for the state to recognize the Alevi identity continued to increase. In this context, the party expected to receive solutions from those in power and opposition circles. As the Alevis realized that their expectations came to naught, they decided to establish a new political party. The newly established party was mentioned in the 1960s and 1970s in conjunction with a number of leadership and ideology changes. Following the military coup of September 12, 1980, it was dissolved like all the other parties.
Undoubtedly, the establishment of a new party was not only caused by the environment under the new constitution. During this period, in addition to the political organization facilitated by the new constitution, some events occurred that deeply affected Alevism. Once confined to rural areas in order to exist, it is appropriate to mention that Alevism transformed in terms of faith and political organization due to rapid migration from the countryside to cities. The life practices created by village traditions became meaningless due to migration to cities. Ancestral rules that had met all the needs of a small community did not work in the city. The Alevis broke away from traditional life practices when they began city life, began to mingle with the new environment, and discovered that they were obliged to live with it. Even so, they tried to sustain their village life practices during their transition to city life. They were able to keep alive their sensitivity to remain one community even in the city. However, despite their efforts, they recognized that they could not overcome the sophisticated city life problems with village rules, and the solutions they proposed in terms of their life practices and daily problems would not work as communityspecific solutions. City life created an impossibility that set the Alevis on the path to becoming a different community. Different perspectives that are not available in the village with other solution suggestions do not need to be solved.
During this period, in spite of Alevism’s rapid politicization process, the Sunni interpretation of Islam began to stretch its political influence as far as possible. Cities became politicization areas not only for Alevism but also for Sunnism. Organized under the leadership of Naqshbandi cults, Sunnism had the opportunity to interfere in politics more than those that existed outside of their leadership. This interference also toughened the Alevis’ opposition style. In addition, despite experiencing similar advantages and disadvantages of city life, the state of Alevis in the rural environment continued to worsen in comparison with that in the past. While the migration of Alevis to cities was considered a chance to increase the vocalization of the problems of Alevism and was regarded as an advantage, the Alevi–Sunni conflicts experienced in some regions of Anatolia indicate that just defending life in the rural environment was gradually becoming more difficult. Without a doubt, this vulnerability depends on the current political will’s underestimation of the events and its concurrent discourse and belief in the refrain that “Alevism–Sunnism discrimination is over.” The most notorious example of these events occurred in Muğla-Ortaca during the 1960s. When Sunni villagers blockaded a neighboring Alevi village in Ortaca for days, all the Alevis in the country were troubled. This concern was very closely related to the resultant method of political will that was taken by the Alevis to address the problem. The tendency of the Adalet Partisi (AP) or the Justice Party to address the issue as an ordinary judicial case and the approach of the Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi (CHP) or the Republican People’s Party, which denies Alevi–Sunni discrimination, minimized the belief among the Alevis that the current political composition would be able to solve the problems of Alevism.
In addition to these challenges, the Directorate of Religious Affairs (DİB) continued to attempt to establish domination over the Alevi faith (belief), leading to an accelerated tendency to politicize issues. Hearing current DİB representatives disregard Alevism in their discourse has caused the Alevi demands to increase with regard to rebuilding the institution. Numerous Alevi opinion leaders held talks with the ruling and opposition parties about the anticipated revisions (rebuilding) during relevant time intervals. When these talks went badly, it was thought that a political formation would be the only way to resolve these and similar problems..
Having been established in such an environment, the TBP entered the 1969 elections with a party program planning to vocalize the existence of the Alevi identity on political grounds and by addressing the Alevi masses. In the first elections it entered, the party received enough votes for eight parliament members, mainly by virtue of the settlements where there were extensive Alevi populations; however, it also experienced an axis shift due to the change in the general president’s role and in the impact of the conjuncture. We can see that the party evolved from traditional discourses to leftist discourses due to their popularity following the general presidency of Mustafa Timisi. Hadji Bektashi Dervish Convent (Hacı Bektaşi Dergâhı) accepted Timisi as the representative of the Alevis and traditionally supported the party until 1970. They were able to contribute to the party’s politics (policy) to some extent, which enabled the meeting of political views with social views. In 1970, a new period began for the TBP, when the Dervish Convent distanced itself from the party. Thus, we must consider two periods for the TBP—first, the period between 1966 and 1970, during which tradition ruled and traditional opinion leaders were able to significantly contribute to the party’s success, and second, the period between 1970 and 1980, during which the opinion leaders and the Dervish Convent became distant from the party. The party then looked for a place on the leftist spectrum and the Dervish Convent’s effect on the party diminished. This study aims to address this axis shift within the context of party programs, speeches of the general president, and election declarations, by using descriptive and historical research methods.
