Alevism
Anatolian, syncretic, and politically distinct within Turkey: Alevism is a living, plural religious-cultural path that blends Shiʿite devotion, Sufi practice, Turkic and Anatolian folk forms, and a strong lineage-based communal structure centered in Anatolia and the Turkish diaspora.
Quick Facts
- Period
- 1201 - Present
- Region
- Middle East
- Key Figures
- Aşık Veysel Şatıroğlu, Cem Karaca, Hacı Bektaş Veli +2 more
Key Figures
Aşık Veysel Şatıroğlu
Aşık (folk poet-musician) and cultural figure
Alevi ashik tradition; Sivas regionAşık Veysel Şatıroğlu (commonly known as Aşık Veysel) was a central figure in twentieth‑century Turkish ashik (aşık) poe...
Cem Karaca
Musician and public cultural figure with Alevi heritage
Turkish rock and protest music; Alevi cultural networksCem Karaca (1945–2004) was a prominent Turkish musician whose public career linked the musical idioms of Anatolia, and i...
Hacı Bektaş Veli
Foundational saintly figure and spiritual archetype
Associated with the Bektashi-Alevi milieu; Hacıbektaş shrine (Nevşehir, Anatolia)Hacı Bektaş Veli is the most widely cited spiritual ancestor within Alevi self-understanding and in the hagiographic lit...
Pir Sultan Abdal
Alevi ashik (minstrel-poet) and symbolic martyr
Alevi poetic tradition; associated with Central Anatolian cultural memoryPir Sultan Abdal is one of the best-known historical and literary figures in Alevi cultural memory. He is remembered as ...
Seyit Rıza
Local leader and figure of the Dersim events
Alevi Zaza community in Dersim (Tunceli)Seyit Rıza is a central figure in twentieth-century Alevi memory because of his leadership during the 1937–1938 confront...
The Story
This narrative combines documented history with dramatized scenes for storytelling purposes.
Origins and Founding
Alevism is commonly situated by adherents and many historians in medieval Anatolia, with the tradition's emergence often dated to the thirteenth century CE. Its...
Beliefs and Worldview
Alevism is doctrinally diverse, and adherents themselves frame core claims in markedly different ways: some identify explicitly as a heterodox branch of Islam w...
Practice and Ritual Life
Ritual life is the most immediately familiar and distinctive dimension of contemporary Alevism. Practices are centered on communal gatherings (cem), musical dev...
Authority and Transmission
Authority in Alevism is transmitted through a mixture of oral lineage, ritual office, and local institutional forms rather than through a single scriptural or j...
The Tradition Today
In the early twenty-first century Alevism is an active, internally diverse tradition whose adherents live primarily in Turkey but also across Europe and in othe...
Timeline
Hagiographic placement of Hacı Bektaş Veli
**13th century** — Hagiographic accounts and later Alevi tradition place Hacı Bektaş Veli in the thirteenth century; his life and deeds are central to Bektashi hagiography and to Alevi claims of spiritual genealogy centered on the Hacıbektaş shrine in Nevşehir.
Execution of Şeyh Bedreddin (and ripple effects)
**1420** — Şeyh Bedreddin (d. 1420), a mystic and social critic whose movement challenged Ottoman centralization, was executed; his ideas and the suppression of his followers influenced later heterodox and Alevi-associated movements in Anatolia.
Battle of Chaldiran and Ottoman–Safavid rivalry
**1514** — The Ottoman–Safavid clash at Chaldiran (1514) was a decisive military confrontation that intensified confessional and political divisions in Anatolia; the rise of Safavid power and the mobilization of Qizilbash groups had consequential effects on heterodox Anatolian communities later associated with Alevism.
Martyrdom narratives and the figure of Pir Sultan Abdal
**c. 1550** — Pir Sultan Abdal, an influential ashik-poet whose life is conventionally dated to c. 1480–1550, became a central poetic and martyr figure in Alevi memory; his deyiş remain part of the living ritual repertoire.
Ottoman suppression of Kızılbaş communities
**16th–19th centuries** — Across the early modern and late Ottoman periods, groups labeled Kızılbaş (often associated with heterodox Shiʿi or Alevi-like practices) faced periodic punitive campaigns, forced conversions, and social marginalization as Ottoman central authorities sought to enforce Sunni orthodoxy.
Law suppressing tekkes and zawiyas
**1925** — The Turkish republican law of 1925 banned many Sufi lodges (tekkes) and zaviyahs and reorganized the public administration of religion; while not directed exclusively at Alevis, this legislation transformed institutional religious life and affected groups tied to Sufi orders and heterodox practices.
Dersim campaign and executions (including Seyit Rıza)
**1937-1938** — A central-state military campaign in Dersim (modern Tunceli) produced mass deaths, deportations, and the execution of leaders such as Seyit Rıza; these events became a foundational traumatic memory in Alevi and Dersim communal histories.
Labor migration to Europe and urban migration within Turkey
**1960s–1970s** — Waves of labor migration to Germany and internal migration to Turkish cities altered Alevi demographics, producing urban and diasporic communities that established new cemevis, cultural associations, and channels of political mobilization.
Maraş (Kahramanmaraş) violence
**December 1978** — A wave of sectarian violence in Kahramanmaraş in December 1978 resulted in numerous deaths and destruction of property in Alevi neighborhoods, a traumatic event that fed into broader polarization during a turbulent period in Turkish politics.
Sivas massacre
**2 July 1993** — During an Alevi cultural festival in Sivas, an arson attack on a hotel hosting intellectuals and artists resulted in dozens of deaths; the incident became a watershed moment for contemporary Alevi activism and public debates about sectarian violence and state responsibility.
Alevi cultural revival and political mobilization
**1990s–2010s** — A range of Alevi federations, cultural associations, and advocacy networks formed in Turkey and the diaspora, campaigning for recognition of cemevis, inclusion in religious education, and official acknowledgement of past injustices.
Municipal-level recognition and debates over cemevis
**2000s–early 2020s** — In various municipalities and in parts of the diaspora, cemevis gained municipal support and became public venues for Alevi worship and culture; debates about formal legal recognition of cemevis and their status relative to state-run Sunni mosques remained ongoing.
Sources
- academic_bookThe Alevis in Turkey: The Emergence of a Secular Islamic Tradition
David Shankland (Routledge, 2003) — A comprehensive scholarly study of Alevi identity, ritual, and modern politics.
- academic_edited_volumeAlevi Identity: Cultural, Religious and Social Perspectives
Edited collections and essays (various authors) summarize debates on Alevi belief, practice, and modern movements.
- academic_bookThe Bektashi Order of Dervishes
John G. Birge (1937) — A classical study of the Bektashi order, useful for historical context about links between Bektashism and Anatolian heterodox traditions.
- academic_bookAleviler: Türkiye Gerçeği ve Sorunları
Works by Turkish scholars (e.g., Binnaz Toprak and others) on the political and social dimensions of Alevis in modern Turkey.
- reference_entryEncyclopaedia Britannica — Alevi
Reference overview summarizing major features of the tradition for general readers.
- academic_bookTurkey: A Modern History
Erik J. Zürcher (Cambridge University Press) — Context for republican reforms and legal changes affecting religious groups in Turkey.
- academic_articlesArticles and essays by Martin van Bruinessen
Van Bruinessen's essays on Kurds, Alevis, and Anatolian heterodoxy are foundational for understanding ocak structures and regional variation.
- human_rights_and_historical_reportsReports and documentation on the Sivas massacre and Dersim events
Scholarly articles, government archives, and NGO reports provide primary documentation and analysis of twentieth-century violent events affecting Alevis.
- academic_articlesStudies on Alevi music and poetry
Ethnomusicological and literary studies (including work on ashik traditions and the bağlama) illuminate the role of music and oral repertoire in transmission.
Explore Related Archives
The creeds documented here connect to the broader record. Explore the context through our sister archives.
