In a controversial pre-election move directed at Turkey’s Alevi population, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has established a new public agency to coordinate Alevi places of worship.

The new body, attached to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, will research the needs of the cemevis — the Alevi community's houses of worship — as well as Alevism and Bektashism, according to the decree. It also sees the establishment of an 11-strong consultative body, all of them selected by the president. 

Though it's possible Erdogan intends to reach out to some members of the 20-million-strong minority — which is not part of Erdogan’s traditional voting base — its initial reaction is suspicion. As the so-called Agency for Alevi-Bektashi Cultural Centers and Cemevis was pushed through parliament Tuesday, many Alevi groups demonstrated against it outside, with police setting barriers to keep the demonstrators away.

Many members of the Alevi community and the opposition parties criticized the bill as a cosmetic step that ignores the community's actual needs and denies it recognition as a religious and not a cultural community.  Alevis, Turkey's second-largest minority group, represent a distinct and often ostracized branch of Islam. Like the Shiites, they venerate Ali, the Prophet Muhammad’s son-in-law, but their faith is a unique version of Islam that mixes Sufi traditions with Anatolian folklore. Men and women worship alongside one other.