Setting and Argument

In the easternmost part of Turkey, Igdir lies close to the borders of Armenia, Iran, and the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic. It is located in a region that has been shaped by the interaction of many nations throughout history, such as Armenians, Kurds, Turks, Iranians, and Russians. Today, the city has a multicultural population consisting of Sunni Kurds and Shi'i (Ja'fari) Turks. Many of the Kurds who reside in Igdir have come from the surrounding mountain villages and have settled in the city. Some of them have come there as a result of the resettlement policies of the state in the 1990s. Most of the Turks in the city are of Azerbaijani origin, and they speak Azerbaijan Turkish. While they have the founding identity of the country with their ethnicity, they differ from the Sunni majority with their Shi'i identity.

Turkish Ja'faris belong to the sect of Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq and are also called Isnaashariyya, Imamiyya, and Shi'is. However, while this school is mostly known by the name Shi'ism, the name Ja'fari is also widely used, especially for Turkish Shi'is living in Turkey. In the interviews, it was observed that the participants used both terms to identify themselves. Based on these points, the term Shi'is will be used interchangeably for the Ja'faris living in Igdir.

This study examines the religious identities of Turkish Shi'is living in Igdir in various contexts and tries to reveal that their religious identities are under the influence of various sociocultural and historical discourses and networks. However, this study is neither an attempt to elaborately outline the historical journey of Shi'ism nor to establish and discuss the principle of their beliefs. And yet, while evaluating the religious identities of the Ja'faris in Igdir, references are made to some of the fundamentals of their beliefs. In this context, giving a brief history of Shi'ism and mentioning the social and cultural effects of this denomination on individuals could be informative regarding the cultural background of Shi'is.

Backstory of Shi'ism

Some events in the first century of Islam were decisive for Shi'ism and the historical legacy of Shi'ism, in this context, worth mentioning because ‘a knowledge of the events of the seventh century is essential to any understanding of Shi'i liturgy’ (Pinault 1992: X). The succession of the Prophet is extremely important because of the disagreement between the two groups. Sunnis think that the Prophet did not designate any successor while he was alive whereas the Shi'is claim that the Prophet wished for Ali bin Abu Talib, his son-in-law and cousin, to take the caliph (leadership) after him. After Mohammed's death in 632, his closest friend and father-in-law, Abu Bakr, was chosen as the first caliph.

When Abu Bakr died two years later, Omar bin Khattab was elected as his successor, and he was the caliph for at least ten years. After Omar bin Khattab's death, Osman bin Affan was elected but twelve years later, he was assassinated. Although Ali bin Abu Talib was finally chosen as the caliph, he had to contend with constant internal turmoil that resulted in a civil war between those who believed that the caliphate was the right of Ali and those who objected to his caliphate. Ali bin Abu Talib was killed as a result of the war and Muawiye, who had been the leader of the opposition, became the first caliph of the Umayyad reign.

After Muawiya's death in 680, Imam Hussein, son of Ali bin Abu Talib and grandson of the Prophet, set out from Medina to Iraq with his supporters to oppose the Umayyad dynasty. In Karbala, 100 kilometres north of Baghdad, Imam Hussein and more than twenty people from his family were killed. This event, the sacrifice of Imam-i Hussein, a figure for truth and justice, became the foundation of Shi'ism.¹ These historical considerations are also important today because, as Martin Kramer points out, ‘contemporary Shi'ism shows the marks of these centuries of persecution, and the dual legacies of resistance and compromise’ (Kramer 1987: 20).

Theoretical Framework

In the literature, the relationship between religion and identity is discussed over three main issues. First, the integrative role of religion is emphasised, with particular reference to Émile Durkheim's perspective. Second, the importance of ethnicity in a context related to religion in identity construction is emphasised. A third point is the role of religion, especially in terms of youth religiosity and the search for identity.

In the criticisms made based on Durkheim's work on Australian Aborigines, it is underlined that the modern world has little similarity to the world of the Aborigines and that the religions he studied have little in common with today's religions. While Phillip Hammond states that these criticisms are correct in many respects and religion does not play a unifying role in today's societies, he also underlines the fact that ‘even in modern society, the church may be an expression of intense primary group ties, especially if those ties are to overlapping groups’ (Hammond 1988: 5). Durkheim's functional reference to religion could be useful when explaining the religious identity of the Ja'faris living in Igdir. They demonstrate the unifying element of religion with the rituals, especially during the month of Muharram. In addition, minority Shi'i identities in a predominantly Sunni country cause the unifying element of religion to emerge more clearly in social life.

While religion can provide a context that reinforces connectedness and a sense of belonging, especially among young people, it can also create an awareness that may ‘trigger an understanding of self that is intertwined and somehow responsible to the other’ (Ebstyne King 2003: 201). Stating that religion plays an important role in the identity development of young people, Erik Erikson similarly underlines that religion provides a platform for identity formation in the socio-historical context (Erikson 1965). The importance given to rituals by the Ja'faris living in Igdir, the fact that young people are at the forefront of these rituals, and that even small children appear in rituals is significant in terms of showing the importance given to this identity construction.

It is possible to say that there is a consensus in the literature that there is a correlation between ethnicity and religion. Studies that explain the relationship between a person's belonging to a religion specific to his/her ethnic identity and the degree of his/her ethnic identity are worth mentioning in this context (see Moskos 1980; Padgett 1980; Reitz 1980). While Harold Abramson (1973) states that in some cases religion equates to ethnicity, he gives examples of the Amish, Mormons, Hutterites, and Jews to illustrate the link between ethnicity and religion. The situation is a little more complicated for Turkish Shi'is living in Igdir. While they have a common denominator with the majority of the country in terms of ethnicity, they are separated by their religious identities. This dichotomy emerges as a difference worth examining in terms of religion and ethnicity as it creates situations where religion and ethnicity clash.

Data Sources and Analysis

The ethnographic data used in this study were obtained through field observations and semi-structured interviews between September 2020 and January 2022 with Ja'faris living in Igdir. I had been working as an academician at a state university in the city during that time. The multicultural nature of the city and the fact that I shared social life with people belonging to Shi'ism, about whom I had little knowledge, motivated me as an anthropologist to start this research. The fact that the research about the Ja'faris are mostly related to the principles of their belief and their religious rituals, and that very few of them are related to their identities, also prompted me to initiate this research.² The journals about the city, its inhabitants, and my daily experiences helped a lot to shape the study.

Only Turkish Ja'faris who lived in the province, districts, or villages of Igdir were interviewed. Participants were found through key individuals and Ja'fari organisations in the city. Also, some Ja'fari non-governmental organisations in Istanbul were helpful in meeting the opinion leaders of the Ja'fari community in Igdir so that research in the city could proceed easily. I had the opportunity to interview people from different ideological, demographic, and socioeconomic backgrounds through snowballing and the process of building trust and credibility as a researcher interested in the cultural identity of Ja'faris.

Although the criterion of whether the participants were devotees or not was not a factor, two-thirds of the participants consisted of people who tried to apply the principles of Ja'farism in their lives. This was not my conscious choice, but we can see it as one of the consequences of the snowballing method as people directed me to others in their close circles. In addition, I was able to go out of these circles and meet with people from different groups with differing backgrounds.

Study participants ranged in age from 19 to 70. Two of the participants were university students; five were teachers. I also had the opportunity to meet and interview many local tradesmen. From the women who participated in the study, one was a white-collar worker, one was a café owner, and one was a housewife. The interviews conducted with people who had returned to Igdir after living in other cities were particularly useful due to the comparative analysis provided by these people. Three mullahs and two different Ja'fari association members were interviewed, and at the invitation of the mullahs, I visited mosques and listened to their sermons. I visited many homes of families who were in mourning, sometimes for my research and sometimes due to friendships. While visiting Ja'fari villages, where their culture is so evident, I sat in the village cafes and chatted with the people there.

There were many interviews that I could not use because the participants were very cautious during the interview; many people chose their words carefully, tried not to say anything wrong, and avoided offending me while answering my questions. As a researcher, I should point out that this state of cautiousness was also true for me from time to time. When I decided to do research, many of my colleagues at the university warned me that this topic was sensitive, that the Ja'faris might not welcome this work, and that it would be better for me to study another topic. In my first interviews, I felt a little uncomfortable because of these warnings but many of the Ja'faris I interviewed approached me with support for embarking on this investigation.

In semi-structured interviews, it is common for the subject to diverge. Not only the researcher's subjects but also the subjects that the participants want to talk about become part of the process. Some participants explained Shi'ism to me at length and tried to explain the heedlessness of Sunni theology. Undoubtedly, these topics also gave me a lot of material for my research, but these were not the issues I really wanted to talk about. In this case, what I did as a researcher was not only collect data but also select data. Ian Dey explains that ‘the techniques of data collection and transcription (through notes, tapes, recordings or whatever) will affect what finally constitutes “data” for the purposes of research’ (Dey 1993: 16). By using intensive interviews and participant observations as the major data collection techniques, this study used qualitative and constructive data analysis strategies.

The Role of Rituals in Religious Identity

Considering the religious identity of Ja'faris, the Shi'i rituals in Igdır can be interpreted as the performances in which this identity is formed and most clearly revealed. As a matter of fact, participating in a ritual and performing a ritual ‘facilitates the unquestioning acceptance of the cultural status quo or system that it embodies’ (Aithans 2010: 19). In this sense, ritual is ‘both a performance determined by communitas and a performance determining communitas’ (Wegley 2007: 68). While explaining the role of rituals in Shi'ism, Heinz Halm emphasises the fact that ‘the community is created not by the profession of belief in dogma but through the process of performing the rituals’ (Halm 1997: 41). These rituals are most intense in the month of Muharram.³ Before beginning the interviews, the initial questions I prepared were about the month of Muharram. But I found that it was something every participant wanted to talk about even without prompting. When I started my first interviews, it was before the month of Muharram, but I still heard the phrase ‘You should see this place during Muharram’. Indeed, during Muharram, the city has a completely different atmosphere. While it is not among the aims of this study to discuss these rituals in detail, to reveal the importance of rituals for identity formation in Shi'ism, it is necessary to understand the meaning of the rituals for Igdir Ja'faris.

Yitzhak Nakash states that ‘no other single event in Islamic history has played so central a role in shaping Shi'i identity and communal sense’ (Nakash 1993: 161) than the martyrdom of Hussein in Karbala. This central role is the reason that Muharram is celebrated with such enthusiasm in Igdir. It can be said that some people have mixed feelings about this enthusiasm experienced in Muharram. A housewife in her thirties said she saw how hypocritical some people were at the Muharram commemorations. ‘I know what kind of people some of them are, but they're always at the forefront of the ceremonies’, she said, expressing her discomfort. During the interview, she criticised the commemorations of Muharram at length, but at the same time, she also said that the atmosphere of Muharram was important to her:

But there are also good things about Muharram. When you look at the results, loud music is not heard, weddings are not held, and birthdays are not celebrated. If you buy a new house, nobody comes to celebrate. All this keeps the grief alive. It is beautiful. Everyone distributes something to eat in remembrance of the souls of the dead.

Muharram takes an important role in the local calendar of Igdir culture. All private and public affairs are arranged according to the month of Muharram. In fact, unique to this region, schools are recessed on the ninth, tenth, and eleventh days of Muharram. The month of Muharram is so prominent in the social and cultural life of the city that even the Sunni Kurds in the city close their shops and trade in the city comes to a standstill during those three days.

I attended ceremonies in the city as a non-Shi'i anthropologist, in Clifford Geertz's words, as ‘a detached observer’. There were parades of people coming out of the mosques, people pounding their hands on their chests,⁴ black chadors worn by women, people crying, and an air of mourning throughout every part of the city. This made me think about the impact of these rituals had on the people. These performative and public rituals ‘in which a broad range of moods and motivations on the one hand and of metaphysical conceptions on the other caught up’ (Geertz 1973: 113) and in turn shapes the spiritual and cultural consciousness of people. These rituals held during Muharram have such an important place in the social, religious, and cultural life of the city that a housewife in her forties sums it up by saying, ‘We wait for the month of Muharram all year long’.

Indeed, these mourning ceremonies, attended by people of all ages, play an important role in the formation of religious identity. Elegies recited, prayers shouting the name of the martyrs of Karbala, and curses on oppressors keep the religious identity alive. Hamid Dabashi strikingly expresses what these rituals mean for Shi'ism with the following words: ‘Shi'ism is a poem, an elegy, a eulogy, an epic, a panegyric pausing for a moment for history to recollect itself and start anew’ (Dabashi 2011: XII).

These rituals are important parts of the city's culture and are performative reflections of the Ja'fari identity. When a retired worker in his sixties, whom I interviewed on his sickbed, said, ‘We mourn in Muharram. We curse evil there. And it is indispensable for us. We show the world where we stand’, I understood that I should focus on these rituals. In fact, what the retired worker said was reminiscent of what Roy Rappaport states on the nature of rituals: ‘It becomes apparent through consideration of the ritual's form that ritual is not simply an alternative way to express certain things, but that certain things can be expressed only in ritual form, which further suggests that ritual is without equivalents or even alternatives’ (Rappaport 1979: 174).

The word ‘indispensable’ emphasises the importance of these rituals for the Jafaris, presenting them as a way of showing where they stand indicates positioning. Some of the participants beating themselves with chains, hitting their chests, crying loudly, dressing in black, chanting elegies together, cursing Yazid, and lamenting Hussein are all clear indications of the physical action inherent in rituals. Daniel de Coppet defines rituals, in this sense, as ‘rites of passage’ as they entail ‘phasal movement, directionality, and positioning’ (de Coppet 2003: 12). By participating in these rituals, Ja'faris in Igdir make clear statements about their identities to the rest of the world.

The fact that they are a minority religious group who prefer to live cautiously in their country and be an introverted society, causes them to emphasise their identity much more passionately in these rituals. A young man in his twenties who thinks that the Ja'fari community cannot reveal their Shi'i identities in a predominantly Sunni country, explains why Muharram is widely commemorated: ‘In fact, the Muharram month of the Jafaris is a time when everything that is pent up inside can be released. For ten days they display their identities which they cannot do freely otherwise.’ However, it is necessary to focus on the role of the rituals performed in Muharram in the construction of religious identity. Even non-religious Ja'faris try to participate in these rituals, albeit as spectators. In the parades held in the city, people dressed in black appear on the streets. It is possible to see people of all ages at these parades. Similar to Durkheim's definition of religion as an element that brings loyalty to society, it can be observed that people try to bring their Ja'fari identities to the fore in Muharram. The pennants hanging from the balconies of every house, the portraits hung in the shops and the lamentations sung aloud in rituals play an important role in forming the religious identity of not only individuals but also society. From Durkheim's point of view, these images and the rituals that try to include each individual of a society can be read as collective identity construction: ‘Thus, there is something eternal in religion which is destined to survive all the particular symbols in which religious thought has successively enveloped itself. There can be no society which does not feel the need of upholding and reaffirming at regular intervals the collective sentiments and the collective ideas which make its unity and its personality’ (Durkheim 2008: 322).

Ja'faris living in Igdir not only practice the rituals related to Shi'ism, but with the same vigour, they also practice the rituals coming from the old Turkish traditions. However, even in these rituals, which are not directly related to Shi'ism, it is possible to observe the traces of religious identity. Toward the end of March, the Feast of the Dead is celebrated in the whole city, in its districts, and in its villages. During this time, I was able to visit all the cemeteries in the area because each cemetery celebrates a separate day to avoid conflicts. On the Feast of the Dead, crowds come to the cemetery in large numbers, the cemeteries are cleaned, food is distributed and candles are lit. For those who have lost a loved one in the previous year, this holiday is called The Black Feast.

During the interviews, when I asked whether this tradition had anything to do with Shi'ism, people were surprised by this question. While some said it had something to do with religion, others said it was unrelated and that it was an old Turkish tradition. The presence of Ja'fari mullahs in these rituals and the reading of the Qur'an in the cemetery, however, shows that Shi'ism and Turkish identity are intertwined in the Feast of the Dead. Nowruz is another tradition that has been celebrated for centuries. The arrival of spring is celebrated with different events. Both of these traditions, the Feast of the Dead and Nowruz, continue in Azerbaijan and Iran where there is a large Turkish population.

These rituals associated with Turkishness correspond to the conventional definition of cultural identity in Ja'faris. In the context of this cultural identity, which Stuart Hall calls ‘collective one true self’, he states that cultural identities ‘reflect the common historical experiences and shared cultural codes which provide us, a one people, with stable, unchanging and continuous frames of reference and meaning’ (Hall 1990: 223). The fact that these customs and rituals continue mostly in this region in Türkiye and that the majority of the Turks living in this region are Ja'faris, it can be thought that the non-Shi'i common cultural codes of the Ja'faris also serve as a positioning. The mullahs and religious Ja'faris whom I asked about these customs and rituals said that they do not contradict their beliefs and that they are good customs. Instead of fighting with these settled customs, Shi'ism has included some religious elements in these customs and made them a part of the Ja'fari culture. Cultural identities have their own histories and the past has an active role in the making of cultural identity. The past national and religious identities of the Turks living in this region cooperate in the construction of their cultures and become an identification point ‘within the discourse of history and culture’. All these religious, non-religious, and semi-religious rituals are reflections of positioning.

Iran: A Complicated Relationship

Before starting this study, I thought that the religious and cultural bond between the Jafaris living in Igdir and Iran would tell me a lot in terms of identity. During the interviews, I realised that the questions I asked about Iran disturbed some of the participants. Others were fiercely defensive about Iran-related questions. A Ja'fari in his thirties, who owns a car wash, was visibly angry after I asked a question about Iran:

Sevgi: So, what do you think about Iran? After all, we are talking about a place that is the centre of Shi'ism. And Igdir is, geographically, one of the closest places to Iran in Türkiye.

M: Iran is Iran. I am very uncomfortable being called Iranian. Don't let them tell us that. This gives us a political identity. I don't want that.

In an interview with a government bureaucrat in his office, when I asked questions about Iran, he got a little nervous, got up from his desk, and closed the office door. Apparently, the questions I asked were sensitive questions for an interview taking place at a government agency. When he sat down again, his answers were more about Turkish identity than Iran: ‘You think of me as identifying with Iran, but I can say that we are the real Turks. I mean the pure. For example, the Turkish we speak is more authentic and unspoiled. But we are not seen as Turks.’ When ‘Ja'fari’ is mentioned, Turkishness remains in the background. They call us Ja'fari first’.

A mullah,⁵ who had received religious education in Iran for fifteen years, stated that Iran is the centre of Shi'ism and scholars live there. He added that the reason people turned against Iran was because of nationalism and that it was very damaging to religion. Another mullah I talked to said that the denial of Iran is of no use, that the place where Shi'ism is best practised is Iran, and it is natural to take Iran as an example.

When the subject of Iran was brought up, I also asked about the mujtahid. Today, most of the Shi'i mujtahids live in Iran. Some of the mujtahids, with whom the Ja'faris living in Igdir are affiliated, live in Iran. But there are also many people who are affiliated with Ali Sistani, who lives in Iraq. These mujtahids advise these people on religious matters. In the interview I had with a person who had received his theology education and a doctorate in Iran, he said that the mujtahid position is related not only to religious questions but also to political ones. He stated that mujtahidism⁶ was not well understood and the people in Igdir could not grasp the significance of it. Indeed, some religious Ja'faris underlined the importance they attached to their mujtahids. They stated that they visited their mujtahids from time to time and received their prayers, and that their presence was a spiritual force for them. Being loyal to a mujtahid is one of the important elements that keeps the bond with Shi'ism strong. Those who wanted to state that they were not a religious Ja'fari reinforced their claims by saying that they were not affiliated with a mujtahid.

Although most of the Ja'faris living in the city are uncomfortable with their identification with Iran, we can see that there is a religious, cultural, and social bond between Igdir and Iran. Iranian restaurants in the city, Iranian products in local markets, and regular tours to Tabriz and Tehran are the visible part of this link. In some shops, it is possible to see signs written in Persian aimed at tourists coming from Iran. It is possible to encounter vehicles with Iranian licence plates and visitors from Iran frequently in the city. In addition, a significant number of marriages in the city are made from Iran. In the interviews conducted for this study, I encountered many people with Iranian spouses. Right next to the city, Iran constantly makes its presence felt both as the centre of Shi'ism and as one of the focal points of historical, political, and religious rivalries with Türkiye. The Ja'faris living in Igdir have a delicate balance in their relationship with Iran. Because of Iran's historical and religious background, for the Ja'faris living in Igdir, being identified with Iran is not very desirable, however, it is not possible for them to practice their religion in isolation from Iran. The fact that the mujtahids they are affiliated with are there, visiting the holy cities such as Mashad and Qom in Iran, and taking positions according to Iran in religious conflicts and religious issues continue their ties with this geography. Although the Iranian influence on the identities of the Ja'faris living in Igdir is not openly admitted, it carries traces in their cultural identities. A local tradesman, who did not want to express his opinions about Iran, summarises the situation as follows:

There are those who say that we do not have to live religion like Iranians. There are also those who say that we must do what Iran says. We start the month of Ramadan according to Iran. We celebrate religious holidays according to them, not according to the Turkish calendar. But inevitably, politics gets involved. We are confused about Iran.

A Vulnerable Ethnographer

As a non-Shi'i researcher, it was a difficult process for me to participate in Shi'i rituals, try to find a place for myself in the Shi'i community, and try to understand the multi-layered and multidimensional identities of the Turkish Shi'is living in Igdir. Although their main task is to write about others, ethnographers leave their own traces on what they experience, observe, and write. Martha King describes these traces as follows: ‘Ethnographers like to feel that we specialize in real otherness, but the best fieldworkers clearly understand that our perceptions of otherness are always grounded in ourselves. We are often inexplicably connected to certain places, people, smells, tastes, and sounds’ (King 2016: 14).

When I entered the shop of a pastry seller in Igdir, I was surprised to see the pictures of Hussein and Atatürk hanging side by side on the wall, and I remember that I did not know exactly how to interpret this. With my own prejudices and perceptions, it was not very understandable for a religious figure to stand side by side with a figure that is the symbol of laic Türkiye. With the establishment of the Republic in 1923, the caliphate was abolished in 1924. Many dervish lodges, zawiyas, and madrasas were closed afterward. In 1928, the phrase ‘Islam is the religion of the state’ was removed from the constitution. The laic nature of the state was brought to the fore.⁷ These ambitious and radical changes of the Atatürk Republic caused many Sunni religious groups to develop a not-so-peaceful relationship with laicism. When viewed together with this historical reading, it must be understandable to be surprised at the fact that the pictures of Hussein and Atatürk are hanged side by side and the portraits of Atatürk are placed in Shi'i mosques in Türkiye. However; the answers given by the interviewees to the questions I asked about Atatürk in the interviews helped me to understand this subject better.

When I asked this question to a café owner in his forties, he replied: ‘My grandma used to cry when she heard the names of two people. One of them is Imam-i Hussein. The other is Atatürk. When she heard Atatürk's name, she would start to cry by saying, “Oh, I couldn't see him alive with my eyes.” In other words, Atatürk is almost as important to us as Imams.’

Again, a lawyer in his forties explained his love for Atatürk as follows:

We are a Shi'i minority living in a predominantly Sunni country. Religious freedom is important to us. It is important to open our own mosques and to perform our prayers according to our beliefs. In other words, it is important that we have an autonomous religious structure, even if we are different. This autonomy is provided by the secular state structure. Atatürk is the founder of this. Atatürk gave us the opportunity to live our religion comfortably with the secular structure he established.

From this point of view, the reasons why Atatürk, who is associated with laicism, is blessed among Turkish Shi'is and a special meaning is attributed to him is better understood. As a Shi'i minority in a predominantly Sunni country, they see Atatürk and the values he represents as a guarantor of their own existence and by including him even in Shi'i mosques, they make him a part of their religious identity. This identity, which reveals a situation contrary to the perception of religion and Atatürk, shows how identity can change contextually and how it can construct itself in different social and historical contexts. As Hall states, identities have a structure that is not fixed and static, but ‘constantly producing and reproducing themselves anew, through transformation and difference’ (Hall 1990: 235).

Conclusion

I have experienced that rituals and old Turkish customs have an important place in the identity of the Ja'faris living in Igdir, during the field studies I carried out for this study and the rituals I took part in as a participant observer. Although these customs, whose roots go back to pre-Islamic times, are not directly related to Shi'ism, it can be observed that a consensus has been achieved by adding Shi'i elements to these Turkish customs and rituals. The fact that young people and children are included in Shi'i rituals, their participation in parades, accompanying elegies, and participating in mourning culture by wearing black clothes like all city residents show that importance is attached to the transfer of religious identity to new generations and the construction of Shi'i identity. Ja'faris, who are separated from the majority of the country with their religious identities, embrace their differences as unity in these rituals. For Shi'is, these rituals play an important role in terms of their functions that bind the society together. These rituals, especially commemorations reflecting the mourning culture in Muharram, can be interpreted as performative acts in which Turkish Shi'is bring their religious identity to the fore and display the possible meanings and connotations of this identity. On the other hand, Turkish Ja'faris’ love for Atatürk becomes a part of their religious identities in different sociocultural contexts. As a religious minority group, it causes them to see laicism as a guarantor for their religious life. The emphasis on laicism, with which many Sunni religious groups have a distant relationship in Türkiye, adds different contexts and meanings to their religious identities.

This study, which investigates the religious identities of the Ja'faris living in Igdir, is based on the subjective interpretations of the participants from different sociocultural backgrounds and the impressions obtained in the daily life and rituals of the city through participant observation. Such a qualitative study, which deals with a community through the concept of identity, which is one of the most controversial concepts of social sciences, inevitably has to include subjective interpretations and personal inferences. Nevertheless, the results of this research, which spanned a long period and included people from different parts of the society, may constitute a basis and a starting point for the discussion of some points about the Ja'faris living in Igdir.