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Origins
Originally from Nishapur (Iran), and a follower of the Yasawi Sufi order that was very active in Central Asia doing missionary work among the Turkish tribes of the area, he was sent by his sheikh, Ahmad Yasawi, to Anatolia. Hajji Bektash remained there until his passing away - probably because of the Mongol attack on his homeland Khorasan[1] - and a Sufi order soon developed based upon his teachings.


Spread of Bektashism
Bektashism spread from Anatolia during the Ottoman period primarily into the Balkans, where its leaders (known as dedes or babas) helped convert many to Islam. The Bektashi Order remained very popular among Albanians, and Bektashi tekkes can be found throughout Macedonia, Kosovo and Albania to this day. During the Ottoman period Bektashi tekkes were set up in Egypt and Iraq, but the order did not take root.


Different orders within Alevism
The Bektashi order was most popular among rural segments of Anatolia and in the southern Balkans, in contrast to the Mevlevis, who generally attracted artisans, or the Naqshbandi or Halveti (Khalwati) orders, who attracted theologians and government officials. It was also during the Ottoman period that many Alevi Muslims in Turkey attached themselves to the veneration of Hajji Bektash, a move which may have further polarized the tension between Alevism and the mainstream Sunni ideology of the Ottoman empire.


Shift from Turkey to Albania
The Bektashi Sufi order was also the official order of the elite Janissary corps, and when they were abolished in 1826 by Sultan Mahmud II the Bektashis suffered the same fate. The babas of the tekkes and their dervishes were banished to staunchly Sunni villages and towns, and their tekkes were closed or handed over to Sunni Sufi orders (mostly Naqshbandi; for example, the Göztepe Tekke in Istanbul was given to the Naqshbandis during this period).

Although the Bektashi order regained many of its lost tekkes during the Tanzimat period, they, along with all other Sufi orders, were banned in Turkey in 1925 as a result of the country's secularization policies and all Bektashi tekkes were closed once more along with all others. As a result the headquarters of the order was moved to Tirana, Albania, where it remains today.

The main Bektashi tekke is in the town of Hacıbektaş in Central Anatolia. It is currently open as a museum and his resting place is still visited by both Sunni and Alevi Muslims. Large festivals are held there every August. Also the Göztepe and Şahkulu tekkes in Istanbul are now used as meeting places for Alevis, not for Bektashis.