ANKARA - ``We are strongly against the EU progress report`s part about Alevi Muslims. It is a gross error and blunder to consider Alevis and Bektashis as minority,`` said Ali Riza Selmanpakoglu, mayor of Hacibektas town of Nevsehir city in central Anatolia.
Selmanpakoglu told a press conference in Ankara on Thursday that they were shocked while reading the EU`s report on Turkey. ``It is out of question for all Alevis and Bektashis to either stand by or back this report.``
He said Alevi Muslims who were a pillar of secularism, democracy and enlightenment in Turkey had always been one of the essential components of the Republic of Turkey.
``It is a gross error and blunder to consider Alevis and Bektashis as minority. We are against and condemn the EU`s progress report`s part about Alevis,`` he stressed.
Meanwhile, Teoman Sahin, a lawyer and spokesman of the Ahl al-Bayt (Members of the Holy Prophet Mohammad`s Family) Foundation in Corum city in central Anatolia, said that they were strongly opposed to the report`s part about Alevis.
``They upset us when they called Alevis a minority in their report on Turkey,`` he said.
Sahin stressed that Alevis were one of the essential components of the Republic of Turkey and they did not have any demands at this stage.
(MS-ULG) 14.10.2004