An anthropologıcal research over Alevi-Sunni marriages in İstanbul and Nevşehir

My research is about Alevi-Sünni marriages. The topic of the research is about couples opinions, what they experienced trough their marriages, the impact of the family structure and environment to an intermarriage between an Alevi and a Sunni, the family?s reactions and the religious orientation of the couples from these mixed marriages. The main technique used in the research is in-depth interview and approximately two months observation in field. In-depth interviews were held 15 couples. Some of these couples were Alevi man-Sunni woman, and some were Alevi woman-Sunni man. By this view, I did a crosswise research. My research was applied in two cities: İstanbul and Nevşehir. My family?s contact, my own research and snowball procedure were applied to reach the informants.I reached four main results upon the complexion of my research. Firstly, there is a relation between intermarriages and cosmopolitan urban life because of Alevis and Sünnis? traditional structure dissolved. We can say that, due to this change there is an increase in mixed marriages. Secondly, the Sünni identity is more prefered to than Alevi one because the first bring more benefit in Turkey. Another result as we are familiar is that, to be a man has got more advantages in our society?s taboos due to patriarchy. So we can say that to be a man is a good privilege in intermarriages. Because man?s tradition and man?s religion could be the center of the marriage. On the other hand, some mixed marriages are centered upon woman?s traditions and religion. I think that the power of money is an important fact.The introduction of the research contains the main concepts about the subject, the Alevi and Sünni events trough the Turkish history as well as the view of both religions towards mixed marriages. The second section is about the research?s methods and the ethical dimension is discussed. Then I present the findings with quotations from in-depth interviews. In the forth section, the findings from the in-depth are analyzed and interpreted. After this, I present the issues reached from the interpretations and final suggestions. Finally, the appendix contains maps, photographs from the field, interview questions and samples, press news, Alevi poems, glossary, research calendar, research budget, personal curriculum vitae.