According to AhlulBayt News Agency (ABNA.ir), community members demanded that their beliefs be included in textbooks and barriers to training their own religious leaders be removed.
The workshop was closed to the press, but community leader Selahattin Özgündüz conveyed the group’s demands to the media: Caferis want to be able to speak about their community on Turkish Radio and Television Corporation, or TRT, and other mass-media outlets. They are also demanding that the state not intervene with their mosques, the management of their Koran classes and the property of those institutions.
Though Caferis do not want to be governed under the framework of the Religious Affairs Directorate, Özgündüz said, they are asking to receive a share of the payment allocated from the state budget for religious affairs. They also want texts prepared by the community to be included in school books.
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