The islamisation of the Turkish-speaking and the conversion of the natives
Between the 9th and the 11th Century, the Turkish-speaking tribes from Central Asia settled in numbers, first, in the Caucasus Mountains and later in the Persian area and finally in Asia Minor. During this period, these tribes progressively converted into Islam.
Heterodox movements coexisting with the classical Sunnite culture and local popular religions in a Christian environment penetrated the Anatolian Seldjoukid State between the 11th and the 13th Century. This Anatolian Islam, living in close coexistence with other religions, especially the Christian Orthodoxes and imprinted with pre-Islamic Turkish beliefs, is characterised by brotherhoods and Sufism.