He is 17 years old, with life ahead of him and the smile of those who find a breath of fresh air after long weeks of work. Eyüp (his name has been changed) is a bodybuilder, he lives in Istanbul with his mother and flies every two or three months to the south of the country. Thumbs crossed on his stomach, prayer beads in hand and white cap on his head, he looks exactly like the dozens of other men, young and old, sitting on the plane this October morning, in direction of the town of Adiyaman.
Like them, Eyüp is one of a few hundred faithful, sometimes even thousands, who come from all over Turkey, every weekend, to this gray and unattractive city. In groups, they then board shuttles towards the village of Menzil, spiritual headquarters of their religious brotherhood, located about forty minutes from the airport. The journey is made between people in collusion, who sing and pray out loud.
Ultraconservative, also nationalist, considered, in the 2000s, as the main recruiting ground for the Islamic State organization in the country, the region is today the obligatory crossing point for followers of the Menzil sect. This has become, in recent years, one of the two or three most powerful Islamic organizations in the country, which numbers around a hundred, or even double that, according to some sources.
No one knows the exact number of followers of these mystical orders of Sufi inspiration, the tariqas (for “path leading to God”), as they are called, organized around the charismatic figure of sheikhs to whom members owe obedience. But everyone knows in Türkiye that they constitute a considerable network of civil society, even in the most restricted circles of power.
A “golden age”
To tell the truth, they are everywhere and nowhere, most often discreet, even if they are sometimes well established. Their varying fortunes are subject to speculation. Not a week goes by without a press title devoted to a brotherhood, where stories of succession, property management, charitable works, foundations, hospitals, schools, homes, contracts mingle. public, television channels or a nebula of associations.
Most of the time, opposition newspapers to the Islamo-conservative power of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the Justice and Development Party (AKP), in place since 2002, accuse the authorities of, at the very least, support of an increasingly obvious complacency towards them.
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