Turkey Will Include Alevis In New Textbooks

In Turkey, Faruk Celik, Minister of Work and Social Security, announced that new textbooks which incorporate information about the 6 to 12 million Alevis in the country will be available for the 2011-12 school year.  According to Today's Zaman, the new textbooks grow out of a government initiative directed at dealing with complaints by Alevis that their children in public schools are required to attend religious classes that focus on Sunni Islam. However Federation of Alevi-Bektaşi Associations Chairman Ali Balkız said his organization could not support compulsory religion classes, even if they include information about Alevism and Alevi figures.