II. Alevi Population Size and Distribution

Determining how many Alevis there are today in Turkey is practically impossible. You cannot count them according to what language they speak, because most of them speak Turkish as their mother tongue. You cannot count them according to where they live, because there are Alevis in almost all provinces of Turkey. Alevis have no distinguishing physical characteristics such as skin color, hair color, or eye shape. They wear no traditional dress that sets them apart from anyone on the street. In fact, unless an Alevi tells someone he is an Alevi, it is difficult to discern. Some will not even admit openly that they are Alevis.

Most Alevi writers and spokespersons claim that Turkey's population today is one-third Alevi-Bektashi, or more than 20 million. Lower estimates range from 10 to 12 million.

Traditionally, there have been significant populations of Turkish-speaking Alevis in the Central and East Anatolian provinces such as Corum, Amasya, Tokat. Yozgat, Cankin, Sivas, Elazig, Malatya, Adiyaman, Bingol, Mus, and Kars. These Alevis have traditionally been called Kizilbash (Kizilbay) or Turkmen (Turkmen). However, due to mass migration to the cities and the mobility of today's Turkish population, Alevis now live in almost all provinces of the country.

Another smaller group of Turkish-speaking Alevis called the Woodcutters (TcihUiciliir) have traditionally been spread out in the Mediterranean and Aegean regions.

One group of Alevis, living in an area traditionally called Dersim (today's Tunceli province, along with parts of Erzincan and Erzurum) speak a mother tongue called Zazaca, or Dersimce. This group has sometimes been called Kizilbash Kurds.