The 2nd Alevi Encyclopedia Symposium and Workshops were held on 10–12 October 2025 in Dortmund, hosted by the DAKME Alevi Cultural Center (DAKME Alevitisches Kulturzentrum e.V.). The symposium and evening reception on Friday brought together around sixty participants and scholars from Turkey, Germany, France, and the United Kingdom. On Saturday and Sunday, the workshops—organized into nine thematic working groups and attended exclusively by invited academics—gathered nearly forty researchers for intensive collective sessions.
The 2nd Alevi Encyclopedia Symposium continued the discussions initiated by the Rıza Şehri Academy in April 2024 and the groundwork laid during the 1st Alevi Encyclopedia Symposium in October 2024. Following the public launch of the encyclopedia on 2 July 2025, which featured its first set of entries and video materials, this second symposium marked a major turning point: the formal establishment of a professional International Editorial Board and a Scientific Advisory Board. With the contributions of nearly one hundred scholars, the encyclopedia has evolved into a robust structure, organized around eight thematic working groups that encompass the broader Alevi world, its diverse geographies, and the rapidly expanding field of Alevi Studies.
The Alevi Encyclopedia now embarks on a new phase of its journey. Guided by an international Scientific Advisory Board composed of leading experts and an International Editorial Board representing the collective work of approximately forty scholars, the encyclopedia’s editorial direction will be shaped through a shared commitment to collaborative and scholarly excellence.
For the 2025–2026 publication period, the Editorial Board of the Alevi Encyclopedia consists of the following members:
Founding Editors: Dr. Ahmet Kerim Gültekin (Germany), Dr. Hayal Hanoğlu (United Kingdom).
Section Editors: Dr. Aynur Ünal (Arden University – United Kingdom), Dr. Besim Can Zırh (Middle East Technical University – Turkey), Ece Esmer Kırma (PhD Candidate / University of Hamburg – Germany), Erkan Çanakçı (Independent Researcher, Turkey), Dr. İhsan Koluaçık (Tekirdağ Namık Kemal University – Turkey), Dr. Mark Soileau (University of Hamburg – Germany), Dr. Necla Açık (Middlesex University – United Kingdom), Dr. Samuel Vock-Varley (Aix-Marseille University – France), Sercan Karlıdağ (PhD Candidate / Altınbaş University – Turkey), Dr. Sönmez Alvanoğlu Yolcu (Turkey), Dr. Ümit Çetin (University of Westminster – United Kingdom), and Zana Kibar (Germany).
The encyclopedia operates with a rigorous academic publication policy. Its content will be uploaded to the system on an annual schedule divided into four publication periods each year. All entries will undergo editorial review and will also be submitted for peer evaluation by the Scientific Advisory Board.
The encyclopedia’s video content is being developed as part of the ongoing “Pirler ve Analar Workshops” (Workshops with Spiritual Leaders) series. The first workshop has been completed, while the second is planned for the end of 2025, and the third for the summer of 2026. Based on collective effort and shared knowledge, the Alevi Encyclopedia aims to manage technical processes such as the transcription and translation of video recordings through project-based research and support grants.
Currently published bilingually in Turkish and English, the Online Alevi Encyclopedia plans to expand to German in the coming weeks, and in the medium term to Kurmanci, Kırmancki, and French.
The Alevi Encyclopedia has also drawn attention with its impressive visibility and reach in a short period of time. Since its launch on 2 July 2025, the platform has brought together scholars, spiritual leaders, and community members from different generations. Within its first month (July), it recorded 95,000 page views, followed by over 120,000 in August and another 120,000 in September, achieving an average of 1,200 daily visitors—a remarkable level of engagement for such a newly established digital platform.
Alevi Encyclopedia Symposium Sessions: Turning Points in Alevi Studies – Academic and Community-Based Perspectives
On the first day of the event, the symposium featured two main sessions.
In the opening session, Dr. Ahmet Kerim Gültekin, Dr. Hayal Hanoğlu, and Zana Kibar from the Founding Editorial Board reflected on the general development of Alevi Studies, the past and present of the Alevi movement, and the organizational process, publication policy, and objectives of the Alevi Encyclopedia. Demir Çelik, speaking on behalf of the Hakikat Foundation, shared his views on the formation process and aims of the encyclopedia project, its relations with Alevi institutions, and its broader significance for the Alevi community.
Mehmet Taş, who manages the Alevi Encyclopedia website, presented detailed statistics on the platform’s reach. According to his data, since its launch on 2 July 2025, the site recorded 95,000 page views in its first month (July), over 120,000 in August, and another 120,000 in September, with an average of 1,200 daily visitors—a remarkable level of visibility for such a newly established platform.
Dr. Ahmet Kerim Gültekin emphasized that since the mid-1980s, Alevism has gained increasing visibility both in Turkey and across the European diaspora, marking a new era of identity articulation with the 1989 Hamburg Declaration of Alevism. He underlined that the 1990s were characterized by a wave of violence and massacres targeting Alevi communities—such as those in Sivas, Dersim, and Gazi-Ümraniye—and by the rapid diversification of Alevi organizations, reflecting a mosaic of ethnic, regional, and political dynamics. By the 2000s, Alevism had acquired an international character, with Alevi religion courses entering public school curricula in parts of Europe and gaining recognition as an independent faith in some countries. Gültekin noted that the concept of “Alevi” today extends far beyond Turkey, encompassing a vast geography from the Balkans to the Caucasus, the Middle East to Central and East Asia, bringing together diverse traditions and emerging Sufi movements under a shared cultural and spiritual framework. He further argued that the rich body of scholarship developed over the past forty years demonstrates that Alevi Studies has now emerged as an independent academic field on an international scale. The Alevi Encyclopedia, Gültekin stated, represents a decolonial initiative that seeks to produce knowledge from within Alevi epistemologies—drawing upon the community’s own concepts, affective worlds, and modes of meaning-making—while moving beyond Western-centered definitions. He also highlighted that the project is not limited to textual academic content: under the section “In the Words of Spiritual Leaders”, the encyclopedia includes ethnographic video interviews with Pirs and Anas, thereby making centuries of collective memory visible and accessible. Viewing the multiplicity of Alevi communities and traditions as a source of richness, Gültekin concluded, “This endeavor is only possible through collective effort. The Alevi Encyclopedia brings together researchers from different generations on a shared platform, aiming to create a multilingual heritage that carries the accumulated knowledge of the past into the future.”
Dr. Hayal Hanoğlu described the journey of the Alevi Encyclopedia, which began in April 2024, as an intense and meticulous process extending over a year and a half, shaped through both academic and community-based collaboration. Over this period, she explained, the project first established its conceptual framework, editorial principles, and entry categories, followed by the formation of its network of contributors, the Scientific Advisory Board, and the translation team. Hanoğlu recalled that the first set of entries was published on 2 July 2025, adding that new content would be systematically uploaded every three months. She emphasized that the encyclopedia covers a broad spectrum of topics, including belief, history, geography, rituals, historical figures, and key concepts. Initially launched in Turkish and English, the encyclopedia will be made available in German in the coming weeks, with French, Kurmanci, and Kırmancki to follow in subsequent stages. Highlighting the project’s dual foundation in academic scholarship and oral tradition, Hanoğlu explained that the video collection titled “In the Voices of Spiritual Leaders” documents the oral narratives, ritual knowledge, and spiritual practices of Pirs and Anas, transforming the encyclopedia into a living archive of collective memory. In this respect, she noted, the project unites academic knowledge with the “internal voices” of religious authorities, bridging scholarly and community perspectives. Hanoğlu announced that the archive will be expanded through the upcoming Pirler ve Analar (Spiritual Leaders) Workshops, scheduled for late 2025 and spring 2026, and that transcription and translation of the video materials will make them accessible to a wider audience. She further emphasized that the encyclopedia’s editorial structure is non-hierarchical, based on a participatory and collective model that values shared evaluation and open dialogue in decision-making processes. To enhance the project’s international visibility, Hanoğlu noted that collaborations with institutions such as Westminster University, Leipzig University, and others are ongoing. She concluded by stating that applications to digital humanities and cultural heritage funds aim to secure the encyclopedia’s long-term sustainability.
The Second Session: Tracing the Evolution of Alevi Studies from Past to Present
The second session brought together three leading scholars whose works have made significant contributions to the formation and development of Alevi Studies: Prof. Martin van Bruinessen, Prof. Markus Dressler, and Prof. Bedriye Poyraz. Moderated by Prof. Cem Kara, the session offered a comprehensive panorama of the field. The discussion explored both the academic institutionalization of Alevi Studies and its key theoretical and methodological challenges, resulting in a broad and insightful framework that may serve as a guiding vision for the Alevi Encyclopedia project.
Prof. Martin van Bruinessen (Utrecht University, The Netherlands) examined the historical development of Alevi Studies from a longue durée perspective. He traced the field’s evolution from 19th-century missionary observations and early orientalist research through the nationalist interpretations of the Young Turk era, to the Alevi revival of the 1990s. Van Bruinessen emphasized that the transformation of Alevism into an object of knowledge was deeply shaped by political and ideological conditions. Research, he argued, has often not merely “defined” Alevism but has also produced it within certain interpretive paradigms. He noted that by the late 20th century, with the emergence of Alevi writers and institutions, the field entered a new phase in which Alevis themselves became active participants in the production of knowledge. The rise of Alevi associations, he added, led to a shift in authority from the traditional figure of the dede (spiritual elder) toward the researcher-author, paving the way for the birth of the modern Alevi intellectual.
Prof. Markus Dressler (Leipzig University, Germany) focused on the institutionalization of Alevi Studies over the past fifteen years, offering a comparative analysis of the political and academic contexts of Alevi research centers established in Turkey and Europe. He noted that most Alevi research institutes in Turkey were founded during the AKP era, largely in line with state policies, which confined the field within a nationalist and Islam-centered framework. By contrast, the programs developed in Germany and Austria emerged primarily in response to the religious education needs of diaspora youth, carrying a more pedagogical and pluralistic orientation. Dressler emphasized that contemporary Alevi Studies now extends far beyond theology, intersecting with disciplines such as sociology, anthropology, ethnomusicology, and media studies, and that much of the current scholarly production is being carried out by researchers of diaspora background. This development, he argued, not only provides an alternative to Turkey-centered paradigms but also transforms Alevi Studies into a truly interdisciplinary field.
Prof. Bedriye Poyraz (Ankara University, Turkey), in her presentation titled “Alevi Women’s Studies in Academia”, reflected on the emergence of gender studies within Alevi research, drawing on her own experiences. She highlighted the significance of the 2014 conference she organized at the Ankara University Women’s Studies Center, titled “Women in Alevism: In Faith and Social Life”, as a turning point where Alevi Studies first intersected with feminist perspectives. Poyraz identified two main strands within Alevi women’s studies: one focusing on the claim of gender equality within faith, and another adopting a feminist-sociological approach.
She explained that the often-cited phrase “Among us, there is no man or woman, only the can (soul)” historically functioned as a protective discourse for Alevis in the face of external oppression, yet when repeated uncritically, it risks concealing existing gender inequalities. Feminist research in the past decade, she argued, has challenged this cliché and made visible the discrimination Alevi women face in everyday life. Poyraz concluded by emphasizing the need to develop a more integrated framework between Alevi theology and feminist theory in future research.
Moderator Prof. Cem Kara (University of Hamburg, Germany) concluded the session by noting that the three presentations together offered an integrated and complementary perspective on the field. Kara emphasized that Alevi Studies has evolved not only through diverse academic approaches but also within varying ideological and political contexts, making the question of “who speaks about whom” central to the field. Since the 1990s, he observed, the participation of Alevi-origin researchers who approach the subject through their own identities has brought about a decisive transformation, while simultaneously introducing the risk of producing new “master narratives.” Kara further noted that the discourse of gender equality has increasingly become a marker of modernity and “Westernness” in the construction of Alevi identity; however, as Prof. Bedriye Poyraz pointed out, this same discourse can at times obscure the everyday experiences of inequality faced by Alevi women. Overall, the session highlighted the importance of fostering dialogue among different paradigms within Alevi Studies and avoiding the formation of closed academic “bubbles”, instead promoting open and collaborative scholarship. Kara concluded, “The future of Alevi Studies depends on the creation of a common ground shaped by plural yet interconnected research communities.”
Day Two and Three: Working Groups, Collective Thinking, and Shared Production
On the second and third days of the symposium, around forty invited researchers from various countries gathered in the classrooms provided by the DAKME Alevi Cultural Center and the Rıza Şehri Academy. Over two intensive days of open and self-organized collaboration, participants engaged in productive and independent discussions focused on the encyclopedia’s scope, objectives, and publication policies.
In this creative workshop environment—shaped by collective thinking and shared effort—participants freely contributed their perspectives, revisiting and reinterpreting many key topics that have defined Alevi Studies from past to present. These discussions were led by scholars who have long contributed to the field, ensuring that the encyclopedia’s true strength, capacity, and vision for the future emerged from this voluntary, dedicated, and academically grounded collective framework.
The working groups were designed to reflect the rich thematic diversity of Alevi Studies.
The first group, bringing together the themes of Alevi theology, rituals, emotions, collective memory, anthropology, and mythology, explored the spiritual universe, ritual practices, and mythological dimensions of Alevism. The second and third groups merged to form the “Diaspora Studies Group”, which engaged in broad discussions on migration, social transformation, urban sociology, Cemevis, Alevi institutions, ethnicity, Alevi politics, and media, reassessing the evolution of Alevi movements in Turkey and Europe within the context of post-migration societies. The fourth group focused on Dersim Studies, Êzîdî–Kakai–Druze communities, the Raa Haqi faith, Kurdish Alevism, sacred sites, and mythology, examining regional and faith-based continuities. The fifth group concentrated on the history of Bektashism, archival materials, and historical figures, proposing new archival approaches to Alevi historiography. The sixth group addressed Arab Alevism, exploring its historical, theological, and cultural dimensions and identifying key gaps in existing scholarship. The seventh group covered Alevi music, the tradition of deyiş and nefes, musical instruments, and artistic production, emphasizing the preservation and transmission of oral culture. The eighth group focused on Alevism and gender, feminist approaches, and the gender negotiations of Alevi women, outlining the future directions of research in this area. Finally, the ninth group examined the intersections of psychology, social psychology, and Alevism, addressing issues of belief, identity, trauma, and belonging through an interdisciplinary lens.
The International Editorial Board of the Alevi Encyclopedia for the 2025–2026 publication cycle is composed of representatives from these working groups. The encyclopedia plans to maintain this collaborative model on an annual basis, ensuring that the collective work of scholars continues to guide its structure and vision.
Overall, the 2nd Alevi Encyclopedia Symposium and Workshops made a significant qualitative contribution to the field of Alevi Studies—both in scale and in spirit. The diversity of participating scholars and countries, the innovative workshop format that allowed participants to form their own thematic research and communication groups, and the vibrant networking environment bringing together multiple generations of researchers fostered a sense of collective creativity, solidarity, and shared purpose—setting a new standard for academic gatherings on Alevism.
