Current Processes of Negotiation in the Bektashi Network of Macedonia. Dynamics in the Organisational Field of a Religious Minority

Abstract

The Bektashi are a Muslim minority whose institutional organization in the historically grown monopolies of Albania and Turkey differ in their form and their successes. The Bektashi living outside the monopolies try to be geared to these organizations. This article looks at the relations of the Bektashi groups of Macedonia in the context of the international Bektashi network, which reaches between the monopolies of Albania and Turkey. The dissensions and internal dynamics of the Bektashis are pointed out in the Bektashi groups of Macedonia due to their multi-ethnic composition. Therefor the following questions should be answered: Which groups are involved in the process? What options are there to legitimize and organize? Which are the main points of the arguments? Which tendencies show up? It becomes clear that religious affiliation is not the only group-forming factor. Decisive factors include the interpretation of recent history since 1925, as well as personal power interests legitimized by merit or descent. Moreover, the processes of alignment and demarcation are influenced by possibilities offered by the state and political interests. The article thus illuminates another example of the intertwining of religion and politics as legitimized by the past and manifested in the present. Results are based on data-sharing observation and interviews collected in field research from March 2016 to April 2017 and August 2017. The data analysis is based on the theory of the organizational field.