The Alevi struggle for dignity in the Gezi insurgency

Date

2025-9-12

Author

Gürbüzdal, Ufuk

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This study examines the social motivations behind the participation of the Alevi minority in Türkiye in the Gezi insurgency and argues that the Alevi presence in Gezi constituted a struggle for dignity in response to both historical and contemporary injustices. Positioning the Alevi community as a distinct node within the broader Gezi network, which brought together various marginalized groups under the Justice and Development Party (AKP; Turkish: Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi) regime, the study first explores the structural grievances that the Alevis shared with other segments of the Gezi network in the pre-Gezi period. The study then turns to the specific motivations that informed Alevi participation in the insurgency. Adopting a qualitative research method based on semi-structured interviews conducted with the Kurdish, Turkish, and Arab Alevis who took part in Gezi, the study draws on data collected from a total of 20 interviewees identified through snowball sampling.

Subject Keywords

Alevi, Dignity struggle, Gezi, Insurgency, Respect

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11511/116059

Collections

Graduate School of Social Sciences, Thesis