The Batın World – Jiares (Ziyarets) – the Dersim 38 Memorial – Berlin – Tarık

In this video, Ana Narin Gülçiçeği examines in depth the jiares (ziyarets/saints), which are directly related to the Batın realm in the cosmology of Dersim Alevism (Raa Haqi) and which, after the Ocak system, constitute the second fundamental structure of the religious world. Woven with Batın symbols such as the “four elements,” the “four secret corners,” çar anasır, and Tarık, the narrative makes visible the relationships that the belief establishes with everyday practice, while also shedding light on the functions of jiares at personal and collective levels. In this context, the Ana defines the 1938 Memorial opened on 4 May 2025 in Berlin Neukölln as a ziyaret, positioning it as a space of “memory” and “emotion,” and she evaluates approaches that oppose this interpretation in a critical manner. In this way, the video shows that in the Raa Haqi belief, jiares are not only sacred but also have space-making and identity-making functions.

This recording was made on 10–11 May 2025 at the Dortmund Alevi Cultural Center (DAKME), within the framework of the Pirler–Analar Workshop organized for the Alevi Encyclopedia project under the Rıza Şehri Academy.