Turkey lately took into custody four members of the Suleymanist community residing in Ankara. Simultaneously, the government media targeted the religious clan by circulating bold headline accusations and likening its members to the Gulenists, the regime's chief bete noire.

The Gulenists and Adnan Oktar

Prior to the move against the Suleymanists, the Erdogan administration had targeted two religious clans, namely the late Fethullah Gulen’s Gulenists, accused of mounting the failed coup of 2016, and the Adnan Oktar community.

The Gulenists were a stakeholder in the regime until 2011-2012. They were powerful, but Turkey's leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his henchmen claimed a big victory over them by overcoming the coup attempt and declaring it a Gulenist failure.

Adnan Oktar, presently imprisoned, is still to this day a supporter of the regime. His problem is that his community is a sex cult. His screening of bikini-clad female followers on his TV channel attracted outpourings of anger from Muslim communities across the country.

Compared to the Gulenist network, the Oktar operation was much easier and smoother to run. It had no particular political implications, nor did it mount fightbacks against those coming after it. Oktar has been in and out of jail since the 1990s.

Another clan not liked by the regime is that of Alpaslan Kuytul. But no serious operation has been initiated against it. The Yeni Asya community, a sub-sect of Nurism, and some anti-capitalist groups, along with some anti-Israel groups, are other opponents of the administration. But, as things stand, they have not been destroyed.

Almost all the other religious clans in the country are Erdoganist, with a few minor exceptions. It is of course because it is Erdogan that holds all the power. These clans set out to avoid having problems with the government.

Is Imamoglu a Suleymanist?

Events of late have shown that the Suleymanists are now marked out as a group that could become the third Islamist clan to be wiped out by the regime. It is also clear that the operation in play against them is part of the wider operation launched in March against Istanbul mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, the chief political rival to Erdogan, whose time in jail now extends to more than two months.

The government spin that describes Imamoglu as a Suleymanist actually dates back as far as May 2019. Two months before then, Imamoglu won the Istanbul election. And in June 2019, he decisively won the poll re-run, called after a disconcerted Erdogan objected to the outcome of the first ballot.

Tweet: The photo in circulation prior to the March 2024 local elections.

It is said that the Suleymanist clan and the regime fell out after the Suleymanists supported Imamoglu in the March 2019 local polls. Prior to that point, the Suleymanists were funded by the powers that be and enjoyed the legal immunity that is extended to all pro-government clans in the country.

A photograph (above) that shows Imamoglu singing the Quran in his childhood was put into circulation in May 2019. It allegedly shows Imamoglu at a Suleymanist institution.

Imamoglu has not commented on the claim. A drawback for those pushing the story that he is a Suleymanist is that in the picture he is wearing a white headpiece, but it is dark blue head coverings that are a trademark of the Suleymanists.

Photo: “The community that wears the dark blue hats,” reads the Deutsche Welle headline.

Majority of Turks: Big believers who drink raki

Imamoglu, in any case, is known for his secular lifestyle. He drinks raki. His wife does not wear a headscarf.

In this sense, Imamoglu represents the vast majority of Turks, who define themselves as serious believers, while at the same time ‘failing’ to fulfil the requirements. This is the reality despite the Islamisation policies that have been in place since the beginning of the Cold War.

Just who are the Suleymanists?

In 1826, Sultan Mahmut II dismantled the Janissary (Yeniceri) units of the Ottoman army. The Janissaries were of the Bektashi order, a sub-sect of Alevism (Alawism). The Sunni Nakshibendis replaced the Bektashis within the Ottoman State.

Muslims are divided into two main sects, namely Shia-i Ali (pro-Ali, or only Shia) and Sunni (or Shia-i Muaviye, pro-Muaviye, or Mu'awiya). As is clear from the names, the split is between Ali, the Prophet Mohammed’s cousin and son-in-law, and Muawiya, governor of Damascus during the second half of the seventh century.

Majorities of Turks, Kurds and Arabs are Sunni while the Alevis (or Alawis) make up a separate sub-sect of Shia in Anatolia. Iran is also Shia, but it has a totally different approach to being pro-Ali in comparison to the Alevis in Turkey.

Sunnisation of the Turkish state

The Sunnisation of the Turkish state dates back to the 16th century rivalry between Yavuz Sultan Selim and Shah Ismail, the Turkish head of the then Safavid state located in present-day Iran. Ismail was Alawi and Yavuz slaughtered his supporters in Anatolia.

The Janissaries remained an isolated group within the state. It was because they were sons of Christians that they were forcefully converted to Islam.

Bektashism is a sect of Anatolian Turkish Islam, a light form of Islam that better fit the Christian offspring who in conversion would have been overwhelmed by a hardcore version.

Ataturk era, a parenthesis

In 1925, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, a positivist who gained power in leading the country’s post-WWI war of independence and eventually founded the laicist Republic of Turkey, banned all the religious communities.

Suleyman Hilmi Tunahan

Suleyman Hilmi Tunahan was among the Nakshi scholars who lost their employ with the abolishment of the Islamic institutions.

After Ataturk’s successor, Ismet Inonu, accepted the US mandate that came with the Truman Doctrine in 1947, he eased the ban on the religious groups. As a result, the Nakshi scholars found a new space for their activities.

Islamist clans entwined with the Turkish state

Currently, all of the clans initiated in the 1950s are stakeholders in the Erdogan regime. There are dozens of different clans, with around a dozen seen as the strongest.

The strongest ones control some ministries. For instance, the Menzil clan holds the health ministry.

Kuris, new enemy of the state 

The Suleymanists gained power led by Tunahan’s son-in-law Kemal Kacar, who came from a wealthy family. Kacar was at the helm of the clan between 1959 (when Tunahan died) and 2000 (when Kacar died).

Ahmet Arif Denizolgun, a son of Tunahan’s daughter Feriha Ferhan Denizolgun, took over the clan leadership in 2000 and remained in post until he passed away in 2016.

Alihan Kuris, a son of Feriha Ferhan’s daughter Gulderen Kuris, took over the post in 2016. He is the current leader of the clan. It is Alihan Kuris that the regime is targeting.

In the 1960s, the Suleymanists became the first Islamist clan to expand into Germany to serve the social and religious needs of the many Turkish workers that had migrated there.

Millions of people?

It is thought that the Suleymanists operate an Islamic education network that takes in more than a thousand dormitories across Turkey. It is estimated that they have 100,000 to 150,000 students.

When graduates and families are taken into account, their network can speak of a few million people, though it should be noted that not all of these people are hardcore clan members.

Some confusion emerged during the regime’s war on the Gulenists. The Gulenists thought that their ranks took in millions of people. However, the hardcore members were deserted by the community's peripheral members after the Erdogan camp launched operations against them.

The regime media lists companies and associations related to the Suleymanists as Hisar Hospitals, Arden Supermarkets, Arden Cafes and Restaurants, Akdeniz Toros Meat and Chicken, the Fazilet Nesriyat print houses, Isabet Schools, Gulderen and Kardelen Kindergarten, Camlica Printhouse, Isabet Printhouse, Camlica Bookstore, Hisar Tourism, Antalya Cold Storage Warehouse (ANSO), Diversity and Hedef Association.

Deutsche Welle has assessed that there are around 100,000 Suleymanists in Germany.

The "Imamoglu Crime Syndicate", an octopus

Since March, Erdogan, has described the targeted Imamoglu structure as an "octopus". The government tabloids talk of the "Imamoglu Suc Orgutu" (Imamoglu Crime Syndicate).

During the campaign to uproot and push out the Gulenists, the terms "Fethullahist Terrorist Organisation", or "FETO", and the "Ergenekon Terrorist Organisation", or "ETO", were introduced as Erdogan proponents cooked up black propaganda to convince Turks that the target was a criminal organisation.

Photo: Main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) chair Ozgur Ozel on May 27 also had a go at fulminating about an "octopus".

Four detention waves have so far been conducted as part of the Imamoglu operation.