| Sumario: | State - sponsored media in Turkey presents aşure as a "national dessert," often at the expense of Alevi communities who prepare the dish for the sacred commemoration of the Karbala Massacre (680 CE/61 AH). These popular representations of aşure focus almost entirely on pluralist notions of belonging and tolerance, to the strategic exclusion of Alevi mourning narratives and repertories of sacred music and poetry. While the state presents aşure as a national dessert, Alevi religious organizations reconstruct it through activist discourses and understand aşure as a form of resistance and a response to the increasing authoritarian regime in Turkey. Through a close examination of Muharrem commemorations in Istanbul and a critical analysis of state-sponsored media depicting those practices, in this article I demonstrate that aşure, caught between state pluralism and Alevi activism, is fragmented, with different groups adopting various versions based on their perspectives.
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