- Türk Kültürü ve Hacı Bektaş Veli Araştırma Dergisi
- Issue: 52
- A CROSS-CULTURAL EXAMINATION OF THE EXPRESSIVE CULTURE OF TURKISH-SPEAKING ALEVI/BEKTASHI AND ALEVI/...
A CROSS-CULTURAL EXAMINATION OF THE EXPRESSIVE CULTURE OF TURKISH-SPEAKING ALEVI/BEKTASHI AND ALEVI/BABAI (BOBAI) COMMUNITIES IN THE EASTERN RHODOPE MOUNTAINS OF SOUTHERN BULGARIA: IN SEARCH OF ORIGINS AND PARALLELS WITH TURKISH ALEVIS/ BEKTASHIS AND TAHTACIS
Authors : Irene Markoff
Pages : 39-51
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Publication Date : 2022-12-16
Article Type : Research
Abstract :Turkish heterodox communities in Bulgaria now subsumed under the general category of Alevi (Aliani) are found primarily in the region of Deliorman in northeastern Bulgaria and in the eastern Rhodope Mountains of southern Bulgaria. Statistics recorded in 2001 indicate that there are 53,000 heterodox Muslims in Bulgaria (Mikov 2005). These syncretistic communities are often labeled as "Shi’ites” because of their devotion to the imam ‘Ali and the 12 imams of Shi’ite Islam; as Kızılbaş (‘redheads’), an older term for Alevi referring to a turban with twelve folds worn by Shah Ismail Safevi’s Turkmen military elite who supported their leader’s extremist Shi’ite beliefs (16th century); and more so as Bektashi (referring to the Bektashi order of dervishes and the Çelebi and Babağan branches that exist in Bulgaria) and Babai/Bobai (referring to the Otman Baba branch of dervishes in Bulgaria) in their somewhat closed communities (de Jong 1993). The practice of taqiya ‘dissimulation’ – a masking of true identity in hostile environments has been a common strategy for such sects in Anatolia and the Balkans where fear of adversity from the "others” (Sunnis) has always been omnipresent and resulted in persecution and oppressive measures imposed by state authorities over time (Markoff 2002).Keywords : Güney Bulgaristan, Rodaplar, Tahtacı, Alevi, Bektaşi