The Alevi-Bektashi order in Turkey: syncreticism transcending national borders

This article aims to shed light upon the ways of how the Europeanization of Turkey and the Balkans has so far led the Alevi-Bektashi order to revitalize its transnational and heterodox stand, which actually originates from the early encounters of the Turkish tribes with the Christian natives in Anatolia and the Balkans. The main premise of this work is that the Alevi-Bektashi communities residing in Turkey have recently reconnected themselves with their relational communities residing in the European Union and the Balkans through various layers of social learning and interaction provided by the process of European integration offering subordinated groups opportunity structures to transcend the hegemony of their nation states and to revitalize their transnational characteristics.