Hajji Bektash Wali (Persian: حاجی بکتاش ولی Ḥājī Baktāš Walī; Turkish: Hacı Bektaş Veli) was an Islamic mystic, humanist and philosopher from Khorasan who lived approximately from 1209-1271 in Anatolia. The name attributed to him can be translated as "The Pilgrim Saint Bektash." He is the eponym of the Bektashi Sufi order and is considered as one of the principal teachers of Alevism. He is also a renowned figure in the history and culture of both Ottoman Empire and modern day Turkey.

Origins
According to Uzun Ferdowsī's Walāyatnāma (translated as The Saintly Exploits of Haci Bektas Veli[1]), the principal biographical work concerning Hajji Bektash, he was born in the town Neyshabur (Nishapur), which is now a city in the province of Khorasan in northeastern Iran. As analyzed by H. Algar and A. Gölpinarli, it is highly probable that he formed part of the westward migration that was occasioned by the Mongol invasion of Khorasan, and that his origins were therefore Iranian, similar to the case of famous mystic, Rumi, whose family likewise escaped westward at the same time from Balkh in Khurasan due to the depredations of the Turkic and Mongolian nomadic invaders.
It is reported in some Bektashi legends that Hajji Bektash was a follower and the caliph ("representative") of Khwaja Ahmad Yasavi, a Sufi mystic from Central Asia who had great influence on the Turkic nomads of the steppes. However, this claim is rejected by modern scholars, since Ahmad Yasavi lived nearly one hundred years before Hajji Bektash. In addition, there are no signs of Yasavi influence in the original teachings of Hajji Bektash.

Although contrary to iranian claims, etymology of his name is Turkic. Bek (pek, berk) means strong, tough and tash (like in Tashkent, Uzbek capital) means rock in various Turkic languages. So Bektash name means "strong rock" in Turkish.
Modern research connects him to another important religious movement of that time: to the Qalandariyah movement and to Bābā Rasul Ilyās Khorāsānī († 1240), an influential mystic from Eastern Persia who was tortured to death because of his anti-orthodox views on Islam. The original Bektashi teachings in many ways resemble the teachings of the Khorasanian Qalandariyah and that of Rassul-Allāh Eliyās.
Spread of the Bektashi order
Bektashism spread from Anatolia through the Ottomans primarily into the Balkans, where its leaders (known as dedes or babas) helped convert many to Islam. The Bektashi Sufi order became the official order of the elite Janissary corps after their establishment. 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 in these countries.