A Century-Long Economic History of Alevis

If economic history is a story of humanity's struggle for survival, this story will vary from country to country and even within the same country. Focusing on the survival story of Turkey's most populous minority group, Alevis, from the founding of the Republic to the present day, this study examines the socio-economic transformations that Alevi communities have undergone during this century-long period. While there is now a vast literature on Alevism, with contributions from researchers from different disciplines, to identify these transformations and understand the factors behind them, there is a noticeable lack of studies that approach the subject from an economic perspective. However, Alevism and Alevis are full of data that should be analyzed from an economic perspective. In this study, which aims to be one of the first steps to fill this gap in the literature, the oral history method is used in addition to the economic interpretation of the existing findings in the literature. Although Alevism, whose traditional institutions and social organization can be traced back at least five hundred years, underwent a certain transformation with the Republican reforms, the real break for Alevis began with the urban migration that began in the 1960s. Negatively differentiated from other migrants in terms of their economic accumulation and skills, Alevis are also disadvantaged in terms of language and religious belief. After the 1980s, Alevis tried to rise by compensating for these inequalities with public education and health services, but after the 1980s they lost these opportunities and continued to maintain their marginalized position in the eyes of political powers. Especially for Alevis, who are still unable to hold certain positions in the public sector, the Republic's ideal of equal citizenship has not been achieved by the end of the first century.