HACIBEKTAS - Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit has said that Alawite-Bektasi sect is not just a sect for him, but it's a cultural accumulation.
Ecevit spoke about historical and social dimensions of Alawite-Bektasi culture at Hacibektas Cultural Center on Friday. He said he was happy to see Dede Efendi, representative of Hacibektas culture in Albania at the meeting.
Ecevit said that the mystics who lived at the same era with Haci Bektas Veli enlightened a big part of the world stretching from Central Asia to central Europe.
''Now Europe and Asia are integrating,'' Ecevit said. ''Turkey makes the biggest contribution to this process. In this process, I believe that the Alawite-Bektasi culture will shed light on all this region.''
Ecevit also remarked that Alawite-Bektasi culture adopted equality between sexes even before Turkey had a civil code. He also said this culture introduced humanism to Turkey.
''Why did democracy and secularism came to Turkey before other Muslim countries? Because Turkey had Alawite-Bektasi culture. This is why Turkey was a leader of secularism and democracy. It will continue this leadership in the coming centuries.''
Ecevit also stated that Turkey has to conduct into depth studies on Alawite-Bektasi culture.
The prime minister said that Hacibektas' mayor Mustafa Ozcivan wanted to found Hacibektas University in Nevsehir or Hacibektas adding that such a university would not only serve Turkey but to all humanity.