AK PARTY'S "ALEVI APPROACH" DISCUSSED IN ADVISORY BOARD
AK Party Foreign Affairs 2nd Advisory Board Meeting took place at the AK Party Headquarters on 17th of December 2007 chaired by Mr. Egemen Bagis, AK Party Vice Chairman in charge of Foreign Affairs. AK Party Foreign Affairs Advisory Board members Mr. Taha Aksoy, Mrs. Askin Asan, Mr. Reha Camuroglu, Mrs. Zeynep Dagi, Mr. Vahit Erdem, Mrs. Ozlem Turkone, Mr. Yasar Yakis and Mr. Taner Yildiz attended the meeting as well as AK Party Istanbul MP Mr. Ibrahim Yigit.
The agenda of the meeting was the "AK Party's Alevi Approach". Istanbul MP and AK Party Advisor to the Chairman Mr. Reha Camuroglu, together with Mr. Ibrahim Yigit made a presentation on "Historical development of Shiism and the process of politicization." Also the elements of AK Party's Alevi approach and the aims of this approach were discussed. At the end of the meeting, the common point of all the participants was: AK Party as a centrist party, which is embracing all the elements in our society has also been the hope for our Alevi citizens who couldn't find anybody since years to talk about their problems and AK Party will fulfill their hopes.
AK Party Vice Chairman Egemen Bagis evaluating the meeting, had these to say: "It is said that AK Party is engaged in the Alevi approach for the votes. There is no such thing! Our policies are not based on certain groups or ethnical groups, but rather winning the votes of certain geographies and certain population groups. Meaning "alevi" vote, "this vote" or "that vote" is not the goal, but rather "women's votes", "youth votes", "cosmopolitan votes" and etc. We do not account for the "alevi" votes.
We are making this approach for tolerance and social integration. We are making this approach so that there won't be separations and divergence within the society. We are also the party for the back streets. We are trying hard not to leave anyone in the back streets. This government is everyone's government.
There are so many associations, so many will attend… This argument only shows how closely the Alevis are being watched and are kept under pressure. The Alevis are chained within themselves, they need to break those chains. They need to release themselves from vote collectors. They need to use their free will. Someone always ordered them to –do this or do that-. We call upon the Alevis to break their chains and think freely."