Turkish author delves into the role of religion in mass atrocities

One of the most important questions facing humanity today, Güneş Murat Tezcür said, is how people of different religions can “find more sustainable methods of living together.”

At a Tuesday event organized by the Abbasi Program in Islamic Studies, Tezcür presented his latest book, “Liminal Minorities: Religion and Mass Violence in Muslim Societies,” which focuses on religious minorities subjected to mass atrocities in countries such as Iraq, Iran and Turkey .

During his lecture, Tezcür discussed the genocide of the Yazidis, which he wrote about in his book. Tezcür delved into the events of 2014, when Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) forces raided Sinjar, Iraq, the center of Yazidis cultural and religious sites, where they kidnapped, killed and converted by force. He explained that his meeting with the survivors of the Yazidi genocide prompted him to “take a much closer look at the Yazidi experience.”

“If you care about religious diversity, which is an important aspect of the human experience, here is an example of how religious diversity can be very vulnerable,” Tezcür said.

Halil Yenigun, deputy director of the Abbasi Islamic Studies Program and moderator of the event, said he has always struggled with some of the issues raised in Tezcür’s book, such as articulating “the independent power of religion as a system of ideas in mass violence.”

Religion is usually talked about as an “ulterior motive and not as a cause in itself” in the context of mass violence, Yenigun said, expressing appreciation for Tezcür’s ability to provide a nuanced angle to this ongoing discussion about how religious differences – along with other factors such as power and greed – contribute to mass atrocities.

Jamila Alaketif, a visiting scholar from France who teaches business ethics and sustainable development, attended Tezcür’s lecture to learn more about the link between radicalization and mass violence. In the past, Alaketif said her French background led her to prevent radicalization among African and European youth, but she wanted to develop “a broader vision of ethnic minorities and religious minorities.”

Although Tezcür’s book specializes in Muslim communities, he said the concepts mentioned in his book can be applied to different religious minorities throughout history. Tezcür said one of the reasons for mass violence is the religious stigma associated with minority groups. While these stigmas don’t always lead to violence, they can make it “difficult for people to understand and respect each other.”

For society to emerge from these cycles of mass violence against religious minority groups, Alaketif said the practice of non-violence must be incorporated into formal education from an early age, and continually repeated throughout the life of every child. “(Violence) is the kind of subject that we mainly study in specific centers like criminal justice or political science centers, but it shouldn’t be that way,” she said, calling on parental figures to teach children how to respect others despite their differences. .

Maxwell Fite MS ’24, who attended the lecture, said Tezcür’s words reiterated the need to strive for unity among religious beliefs.

“We have many differences, but how can we show that we have more in common than differences,” Fite said.