The Right to Exist as the Foundation of Equal Citizenship: An Ontological Inquiry of State‐Citizen Relations in Türkiye

ABSTRACT Despite enduring decades of advocacy, Alevi communities in Türkiye find themselves in a constant state of anticipation for acknowledgment from the Turkish state. Previous studies have long documented the marginalized status of Alevis within Turkish society and their ongoing struggle for recognition; however, they have overwhelmingly framed the problem around the state's refusal to recognize cemevis as places of worship. This article extends the debate by asking: What if recognition is also considered at the ontological level? Through an ontological lens, I examine the multifaceted exclusionary dynamics of non‐recognition shaped by the contested status of jiares , sacred sites for Dersim Alevis and their entanglements with state–citizen relations in Tunceli‐Dersim, Türkiye. Drawing on extensive fieldwork, I demonstrate how the Turkish state's refusal to acknowledge the alternative ontologies and worlding practices of Dersim Alevis constitutes a form of ontological violence that marks the existential limits of equal citizenship. Ultimately, the contestation around the jiares exposes how Turkish citizenship continues to operate through non‐secular exclusions and underscores the urgent need for an ontological pluralism that secures the right to exist.