Inclusive victimhood: Social identity and the politicization of collective trauma among Turkey's Alevis in Western Europe.

Abstract

Using the social identity perspective, this study examines how a collective trauma is used in creating a coherent and unifying Alevi identity and a sense of shared victimhood. The focus is on the Sivas Massacre in 1993 in which the hotel Madimak in the Turkish city of Sivas was set on fire and 37 Alevi intellectuals died in the flames. This article focuses on the Confederation of European Alevi Unions because it is not so much Alevis in Turkey but, rather, those in Europe that try to establish a common Alevi identity and to address the oppression and discrimination of Alevis in Turkey. However, Alevi organizations face a serious challenge when it comes to unification and unity because the diversity among the Alevis is substantial and there is a lack of consensus about what it means to be an Alevi. This article shows how narratives of the massacre function as political capital in drawing group boundaries, defining intergroup relationships, and creating a sense of inclusive victimhood with other aggrieved a...