The Alevi and Bektasi sects are non violent Shia Sufis who many including some in their ranks consider to be crypto Christians. Comprising both Turks and Kurds, they represent a distinct religion from Hanafi Sunni Prthodoxy in Turkey and are horribly discriminated against by the Erdogan regime. They practice a liturgy called a cem, in a building called a cemevi, which features three ceremonial candles, communal wine reminiscent of the Eucharist, and beautiful folk singing and dancing, on Thursday nights. At the end of the service the candles are extinguished. The Sunni Turks have vicious and untrue folklore that the Alevis then engage in orgies, to the extent that "the candle went out" is a popular way of alluding to sexual impropriety in Turkish Sunni Society.
The Alevis represent about 12% of the Turkish population.
About 11% of Alevis, known as Ishikists, reject the Islamic identity and rather embrace what they call Yazdanism, a belief they are a member of a family of esoteric religions also including the Yazidis,,the Yarsanis (also known as the Tajj e Haqq), the Zoroastrians and the now extinct Christian Gnostics. This view holds that Alevism is a part of an esoteric meta-religion that holds the true secrets of the universe and has always existed in different forms.
The Bektasi Sufi Order, which is closely related to Alevism but also practices monasticism, and shares with Alevism the Cem ritual, is the religion commonly referred to as "Shia Islam" in demographic statistics in Albania and Macedonia. These Bektasis have suffered severe anuses from the Sunnis in recent years. There is also a historic Bektasi presence in Turkey closely related to, as in, in some form of "communion" with the Alevis.
Until recently the Alevis did not really accept converts, but recently a Japanese professor who studies Turkish culture and anthropology who had studied the Alevis was warmly welcomed into their religion.
The Alevis are also related to the Alawis of Syria. However Bashar Al Assad has tried to suppress the distinct attributes of his Alawi coreligionists in order to better ingratiate himself with other Muslim rulers in the region. The Alawis are also more secretive.
Like most Minority religions in the Middle East, and like all Shia, the Alevi and Bektasi will practice dissimulation and try to pass the,selves off as Sunni if their survival is threatened. However as Christians our Lord has commanded us to accept martyrdom, and only a few heretical sects like the Valentinians practiced Gnosticism. There is a Gnostic influence, a faint one, in Alevi Islam; Druze is basically not Islam at all but a Neo Gnostic, neo Platonic religion.
I believe Alevism represents the template for how Christians should want Islam to look in order to ensure lasting peace in the Middle East. We need to work to reshape Islam in the image of the Alevis and other non violent Minority groups like the Mevlevis, or Whirlimg Dervishes, in order to entirely suppress the literalism that gave rise to ISIS. Alevis should also in theory be amenable to Chrostian evangelism which is harder with Sunnis.