This review article discusses recent research about two major religious and linguistic minorities among the Kurds of Turkey and their efforts to define distinct identities. The books reviewed include:

Celia Jenkins, Suavi Aydin & Umit Cetin, eds., Alevism as an Ethno-Religious Identity: Contested Boundaries, Oxon and New York: Routledge, 2018, 130 pp., (ISBN 978-1-138-09631-8).

Erdal Gezik & Ahmet Kerim Gültekin, eds., Kurdish Alevis and the Case of Dersim: Historical and Contemporary Insights, Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2019, 172 pp., (ISBN 978-1-4985-7548-5).

Eberhard Werner, Rivers and Mountains: A Historical, Applied Anthropological and Linguistical Study of the Zaza People of Turkey Including an Introduction to Applied Cultural Anthropology, Nürnberg: VTR Publications, 2017, 549 pp., (ISBN 978-3-95776-065-4).