Control your hands, control your tongue.
What you seek, seek within yourself.
(Hunkar Haci Bektas-i Veli, 13th century)
The Alevi Association was founded in Alsdorf as the Alevi Kültür Union. After July 2, 1993, the association's headquarters were moved to Aachen under the name Alevi Kültür Merkezi (Alevi Cultural Center). Meetings are held here and cultural and religious festivals are celebrated, such as musical cultural evenings, religious celebrations such as "ASURE" or various "CEM" (Abdal Musa; HizirCem's, Kirklar Cemi, Görgü Cemi etc.).
The association is a member of the AABF (Federation of Alevis in Europe). The AABFs are organized nationwide and represent the local Alevi associations. The AABFs have joined together in the AABK (Confederation of Alevis in Europe).
What is Alevism?
More than 23 million people of Turkish, Turkmen, Kurdish and Arabic origin live in Turkey and call themselves Alevis. In Germany, their number is estimated at around 700,000. As the Alevis in Anatolia have remained largely connected to pre-Islamic culture and have significantly influenced the historical and religious development of their country, they differ from both orthodox Islamic Sunnis and Iranian Shiites.
What is particularly striking is the fundamental rejection of violence and the equality of women and men in their communities.
Alevism is a belief system that can be regarded as a philosophy of life, according to which the basic values of justice, love of humanity, tolerance and freedom of religion and opinion play a central role.
This is expressed in particular in the definition of a person as an Alevi who
- harbors human love in its heart,
- respects and tolerates all religions, denominations and beliefs
- does not discriminate on the basis of language, religion, race or skin color,
- attaches great importance to knowing how science works,
- God and man as one.
Alevis believe in a sacred power of the Creator, which is transmitted to people primarily through Mohammed and Ali, as well as through their descendants to this day. According to this belief, every person, whether Alevi or Christian, woman or man, has this sacred power. According to this belief, the human being is the most perfect and beautiful creature in the universe. Humans and other created beings are seen as a reflection of the secrets and faces of God on earth.
Alevis have an image of man's freedom before God and of a relationship between man and God that is not determined by unconditional subordination, but by God's help and care for free man in his efforts to come ever closer to God. If man is free before God and has the task of developing towards Godlikeness, then all people are equal because they all have the same task and the same goal. Alevis believe that this goal cannot be achieved without an intimate love for God.
(Detailed information and materials are available from the Alevi Communities Germany and on the Internet at www.alevi.com ).