Visiting Bektashi in Bulgaria

This article is an account of a trip to Alevi Bektashi tekkes and mausoleums in Bulgaria in July 2022, guided by an Alevi Bektashi Sufi, not a professional researcher but a practising Sufi. Among the places visited are the tombs of Kıdemli Baba, Elmalı Baba, Otman Baba, Ak Yazılı Sultan, Demir Baba and Kız Ana and Haydar Cemil Baba. The author has included some relevant fragments from the manakip of these Sufis and local legends about them, as well as information about the beliefs, traditions and history of the Bektashi order in Bulgaria. The author also shares his subjective experience of visiting these ‘places of power’, sacred for all followers of the Sufi tradition. After receiving news that the old Rumelia lodges from the XIII-XVI centuries were still standing, we decided to visit the Bektashi lodges in Rumelia with a small caravan. Information was obtained about the Bulgarian Alevi Bektashi lodges and arifs. Based on this information note, a literature search was made about the places to be visited and the knowledge of the literature was obtained. With this journey, we had the opportunity to visit places that could not be reached by an ordinary touristic travel and to meet people around the visits. Therefore, impressions and experiences related to this caravan and some histories of Alevi Bektashis and great pirs were also included.