Islam
Alevi Islam (Turkey, mainstream)
Export 1 entries:
Heterodox Anatolian Shia / Sufi-influenced tradition. Estimated 15–25% of Turkey's population. Mainstream low-control reference point.
CLCI radar
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Minimal documented control
BITE breakdown
Behavior Control1/10
Information Control1/10
Thought Control1/10
Emotional Control2/10
Modifiers (+0)
0 — heterodox Anatolian Shia tradition; mainstream low-control reference.
Profile facts
Founded
Medieval
Members
≈15–25 million
Active in
Asia, Europe
In context
Alevi Islam combines elements of Shia, Sufi, and pre-Islamic Anatolian traditions. Distinctive cem ceremonies featuring music, semah dance, and gender-mixed worship. Historically persecuted by Ottoman state. Mainstream low-control.
Recovery resources
- ICSA (International Cultic Studies Association) — General referral and cult-aware therapist directory.
- INFORM (Information Network on Religious Movements) — LSE-founded UK research-based information service covering new religious movements.
- Freedom of Mind Resource Center — Steven Hassan's organisation; BITE-model resources and family-side exit guidance.
See the full curated list at /resources.
Evidence by BITE axis
Thought Control
- Strong cultural endogamy in some communities
- mainstream low-control reference
Timeline
- MedievalAlevi tradition crystallises in Anatolia
Evidence matrix
Structured sources cross-linked to the claims they document. Tiered per the source hierarchy. For free-text citations see the Sources section below.
Sources
- David Shankland academic work search ↗
- 5 Mysticism and Imperial Politics: The Safavids and the Making of the Kizilbash Milieu — The Kizilbash-Alevis in Ottoman Anatolia (2019) — https://doi.org/10.1515%2F9781474432702-012 open ↗
- Documents and Buyruk Manuscripts in the Private Archives of Alevi Dede Families: An Overview — British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies (2010) — https://doi.org/10.1080%2F13530194.2010.524437 open ↗
- Adaptation of Buyruk Manuscripts to Impart Alevi Teachings: Mehmet Yaman Dede and the Arapgir-Çimen Buyruğu — Education Materialised (2021) — https://doi.org/10.1515%2F9783110741124-023 open ↗
- BEKTAŞİLİK TASAVVUFU İLE YUNAN ORTODOKS RAHİPLİK TASAVVUFU KARŞILAŞTIRMASI — ALEVİLİK-BEKTAŞİLİK ARAŞTIRMALARI DERGİSİ (2011) — https://doi.org/10.24082%2Fabked.2011.04.004 open ↗
- Religious Politics in Turkey — https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/religious-politics-in-turkey/shaping-the-nation/7A05CD13549831D09B14E57B7C0D31FB open ↗
- Shaping the Nation — Religious Politics in Turkey — https://doi.org/10.1017%2F9781108638906.005 open ↗
- ALEVI THEOLOGY FROM SHAMANISM TO HUMANISM — Alevis and Alevism (2010) — https://doi.org/10.31826%2F9781463225728-006 open ↗
- Markus Dressler, Writing Religion: The Making of Turkish Alevi Islam — ALEVİLİK–BEKTAŞİLİK ARAŞTIRMALARI DERGİSİ (2017) — https://doi.org/10.24082%2F2017.abked.15 open ↗
- The role of religion in female labor supply: evidence from two Muslim denominations — https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-demographic-economics/article/role-of-religion-in-female-labor-supply-evidence-from-two-muslim-denominations/D700154BC43C221223AA9A98D23BE7CD open ↗
- The role of religion in female labor supply: evidence from two Muslim denominations — Journal of Demographic Economics (2022) — https://doi.org/10.1017%2Fdem.2022.3 open ↗
- What is Heterodox About Alevism? The Development of Anti-Alevi Discrimination and Resentment — https://www.jstor.org/stable/27798275 open ↗
- What is Heterodox About Alevism? The Development of Anti-Alevi Discrimination and Resentment — Die Welt des Islams (2008) — https://doi.org/10.1163%2F157006008X364767 open ↗
- The Amalgamation of Two Religious Cultures: The Conceptual and Social History of Alevi-Bektashism — https://events.ceu.edu/2022-05-12/amalgamation-two-religious-cultures-conceptual-and-social-history-alevi-bektashism open ↗
- Are Syrian Alawites and Turkish Alevis the same? — https://globalpublicsquare.blogs.cnn.com/2012/04/17/are-syrian-alawites-and-turkish-alevis-the-same/ open ↗
- Turkey's Alevis, a Muslim Minority, Fear a Policy of Denying Their Existence — https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/22/world/europe/alevi-minority-turkey-recep-tayyip-erdogan.html?_r=0 open ↗
- Ethno-Religious Communities: To the Problem of Identity Markers — https://www.jstor.org/stable/25703828 open ↗
- Ethno-Religious Communities: To the Problem of Identity Markers — Iran and the Caucasus (2010) — https://doi.org/10.1163%2F157338410X12743419189180 open ↗
- Melamet Hırkası Giyenler: 17. Yüzyıl Öncesinde Heterodoks Türk Derviş Topluluklarının Adlandırılması ve Alevilik ile İlişkileri — ALEVİLİK–BEKTAŞİLİK ARAŞTIRMALARI DERGİSİ (2021) — https://doi.org/10.24082%2F2021.abked.340 open ↗
- Yûnus Emre’de Can/Ruh Kavramı — ALEVİLİK–BEKTAŞİLİK ARAŞTIRMALARI DERGİSİ (2021) — https://doi.org/10.24082%2F2021.abked.325 open ↗
- Differences & Similarities Between Anatolian Alevis & Arab Alawites: Comparative Study on Beliefs and Practices — https://www.academia.edu/6854190 open ↗
- The Alevis — Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Religion (2016) — https://doi.org/10.1093%2Facrefore%2F9780199340378.013.101 open ↗
- Alevism-Bektashism From Seljuks to Ottomans and Safavids; A Historical Study — https://www.researchgate.net/publication/328735279 open ↗
- The Safavid-Qizilbash Ecumene and the Formation of the Qizilbash-Alevi Community in the Ottoman Empire, c. 1500–c. 1700 — https://www.academia.edu/40926169 open ↗
- The Safavid-Qizilbash Ecumene and the Formation of the Qizilbash-Alevi Community in the Ottoman Empire, c. 1500–c. 1700 — Iranian Studies (2019) — https://doi.org/10.1080%2F00210862.2019.1646120 open ↗
- Early and Recent Formulations of Theories for a Formative Christian Heterodox Impact on Alevism — https://www.jstor.org/stable/23077030 open ↗
- Early and Recent Formulations of Theories for a Formative Christian Heterodox Impact on Alevism — British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies (2010) — https://doi.org/10.1080%2F13530194.2010.524435 open ↗
- The Sufi Mystical Idiom in Alevi Aşık Poetry: Flexibility, Adaptation and Meaning — https://doi.org/10.4000%2Fejts.4683 open ↗
- The Alevi of Anatolia — https://ciaotest.cc.columbia.edu/olj/meria/meria99_zed02.html open ↗
- Alevî Geleneğinde Doğum Ritüelleri — İnsan ve Toplum Bilimleri Araştırmaları Dergisi (2021) — https://doi.org/10.15869%2Fitobiad.936815 open ↗
- The Shiites of Lebanon under Ottoman Rule, 1516-1788 — https://assets.cambridge.org/97805217/65848/excerpt/9780521765848_excerpt.pdf open ↗
- The History and Development of Literary Central Kurdish — The Cambridge History of the Kurds (2021) — https://doi.org/10.1017%2F9781108623711.026 open ↗
- Mummy dearest : questions of identity in modern and ancient Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region — https://arminda.whitman.edu/theses/240 open ↗
- The Alevi quest in Europe through the redefinition of the Alevi movement: recognition and political participation, a case study of the Fuaf in France — Muslim Political Participation in Europe (2013) — https://doi.org/10.3366%2Fedinburgh%2F9780748646944.003.0013 open ↗
- Kurds, Turks, and the Alevi revival in Turkey. — http://www.uga.edu/islam/alevivanb.html open ↗
- Examining the Condition of Alevis in Turkey in Light of the Freedom of Religion and Conscience and Religious Minority Rights in International Law — https://www.academia.edu/39767456/Examining_the_Condition_of_Alevis_in_Turkey_in_Light_of_the_Freedom_of_Religion_and_Conscience_and_Religious_Minority_Rights_in_International_Law open ↗
- Who Are the Alevis in Turkey? — https://www.britannica.com/story/who-are-the-alevis-in-turkey open ↗
- 40 Killed in a Turkish Hotel Set Afire by Muslim Militants — https://www.nytimes.com/1993/07/03/world/40-killed-in-a-turkish-hotel-set-afire-by-muslim-militants.html open ↗
- Une minorité chîite en Anatolie : les Alevî — Annales. Histoire, Sciences Sociales (1980) — https://dx.doi.org/10.3406/ahess.1980.282666 open ↗
- Express Orient - Turquie : les Alévis, des musulmans à part — http://www.france24.com/fr/express-orient/20141223-peshmerga-organisation-etat-islamique-turquie-kurdistan-alevis-musulmans-jihad-noel/ open ↗
- Notes et documents sur les Ottomans, les Safavides et la Géorgie, 1516-1521 [Études turco-safavides, VI] — Cahiers du monde russe et soviétique (1979) — https://dx.doi.org/10.3406/cmr.1979.1359 open ↗
- ANADOLU ALEVİLİĞİNDE GÖRGÜ CEMİ : ADIYAMAN ÖRNEĞİ — https://www.academia.edu/4433599/ANADOLU_ALEVILIGINDE_GORGU_CEMI_ADIYAMAN_ORNEGI open ↗
- lire en ligne — https://www.lemonde.fr/international/article/2023/04/24/en-turquie-la-video-dans-laquelle-l-opposant-kemal-kilicdaroglu-se-dit-de-confession-alevie-devient-virale_6170764_3210.html open ↗
- lire en ligne — https://www.la-croix.com/Monde/alevis-minorite-discriminee-Turquie-2023-04-21-1201264448 open ↗
- Alevi-Bektashi communities in southeastern Europe : spiritual heritage and environmental consciousness — https://www.academia.edu/3111359/Alevi-Bektashi_communities_in_southeastern_Europe_spiritual_heritage_and_environmental_consciousness open ↗
- Fevzi Rencber, 40 Soruda Adiyaman’da geleneksel alevilik — https://academia.edu/1191197/40_SORUDA_ADIYAMANDA_GELENEKSEL_ALEVILIK open ↗
- Alevīs — Encyclopaedia of Islam, THREE — https://doi.org/10.1163/1573-3912_ei3_COM_0167 open ↗
- Türkei: Die Angst der Aleviten. — https://www.faz.net/aktuell/politik/ausland/naher-osten/tuerkei-die-angst-der-aleviten-12205553.html open ↗
- Aleviten geraten in der Türkei unter Druck — https://www.welt.de/politik/ausland/video109955120/Aleviten-geraten-in-der-Tuerkei-unter-Druck.html open ↗
- Gleichberechtigung für Minderheiten – auch in der Türkei — https://www.zeit.de/politik/ausland/2012-11/leserartikel-aleviten open ↗
- zeitung.faz.net — https://zeitung.faz.net/webreader-v3/index.html#/466045/5 open ↗
- Appeasement an dieser Stelle wäre Verrat — https://www.faz.net/aktuell/politik/kirchentag-in-koeln-appeasement-an-dieser-stelle-waere-verrat-1434550.html open ↗
- Alevitische Forschung kommt nach Berlin. — https://taz.de/Alevitische-Forschung-kommt-nach-Berlin/!5406275/ open ↗
- „Die Auferstehung der Aleviten“ — https://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/15-jahre-massaker-von-sivas-die-auferstehung-der-aleviten-a-563623.html open ↗
We cite sources by name and outlet rather than fabricating links. Where a source includes its own URL, the open ↗ link opens it directly; otherwise search ↗runs a Google Scholar query for the cited title — useful for verifying academic sources. For news outlets, search the outlet's own archive.
Change history
Substantive edits logged per the score-updates policy.
- 2026-05-29Phase 1 Batch J: per-group recovery resources applied via programmatic palette (closest-fit by category + subCategory + score). Palette: Mainstream-comparator lighter.
- 2026-05-20Source-density flags derived from existing free-text sources[]: academic sources. Heuristic auto-flag; subsequent editorial pass will populate structuredSources[] with reliability tiers.
- 2026-05-20Score band scheme migrated from 4 bands to 5 (Minimal 0–5 / Low 6–12 / Moderate 13–20 / High 21–30 / Extreme 31–40). No CLCI value changed; the new Minimal band was carved out of the bottom of the previous Low band.
Key terms in this profile
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Disclaimer. This profile is an educational summary based on publicly available reports. Many members of this group do not experience the patterns described. Individual congregations and chapters vary widely. If you or someone you know needs support, contact a licensed therapist or the International Cultic Studies Association.