Armenians, in EasternAnatolia

The Alevis's Ambivalent Encounter With Modernity.

Islam, Reform and Ethnopolitics In Turkey (19th-20th cc.)Hans-Lukas Kieser, University of Zurich (hans-lukas.kieser@unibas.ch

Another important differenceis the specialsymbiosis with the Christians, especially the

Armenians, in EasternAnatolia that led to moredeveloped interreligious practices and even the fact that some EasternAlevis got Armeniankirves (godparent of circumcision). We must also consider the fact thatan important number of rural Armenian Christians, under grewing pressure from their Sunnineighbours and the state, looked for protection by Alevi tribes. They were absorbed by themin the second half of the 19th and the first quart of the 20th century.These Armenians became Alevis not through outright conversion, but through a gradual process of integration intoexisting rural communities.