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The Shia movement appeared among the Yemenite tribes and it was finally formed in Iraq. It was carried by the same Yemenite tribes into Iran during their work as missionaries.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WExObUSrUrY
He says that that Shiaism had an important influence among the Turks like the Azeris and those even of Anatolia where it became Alevism.
I will translate. The truth is that Shiaism is a Yemenite Arabian byproduct, and when it first appeared among the Yemenite Arabian tribes as political movement. Not among the Persians or the Hejazi Arabs, but rather the Yemenite Arab tribes who took this movement to Iraq into Kufa. It's the same tribes who took this creed to the land of the Persians Khorsan, and the same tribes who were the pillars for the Abbassid dynasty. Even now people who believe that the Abbassid revolt was a Persian one, historians disagree and believe rather it's the work of the Yemenite tribes. Why it's the Arabian Yemenite tribes that were the pillars and spreaders of Shiaism, this in itself needs explaining, and need to be researched. The Persians were never Shias, and they only recent became as such. Many Sunnis in Iran are Kurds and Persians as well, well many Sunnis to this day in Iran are ethnic Persians. Iran became Shia in 1514 officially under the leadership of the Safavids. Who were from Azerbaijan and were of Turkish stock. The Safava movement was originally Sufi but became intermixed politically and religiously and then morphed into a Shia movement, similar to the Marubatin or the Taliban(joking). Iran was only Shia for the past 500 years, and the majority of it's time it was Sunni, despite Shiaism being present in Iran it was mostly confined to the Arabs like the Ismailis of Almaut, who were lead by Yemenite Arabs. Due to the rise of modern nationalist sentiment Shiaism explained through a nationalist ethnic sense, when in reality it's not but rather an ideological, cultural and a spiritual movement that's universal. Shiaism had strong influence upon the Turks, this country of Azerbaijan is 70% Shia and it's a Turkic nation, also they exist in Iran and are about 30% of the population, in Turkey itself the Alevis are 20% of the population and are of Turkish stock. Thus Shiaism can not be explained politically or ethnically because it's spiritual religious sentiment. In the 10th century Shiaism would have become the majority religion of the Arab world, and the 10th century was the century of the Ismaili as it was said by Louis Massignon. It became a minority when all of Shia sects that moved from the Arab world to the Persian land. It was the indirect consequence of the Crusades that Shiaism moved from the Arab world into Persia ideologically. The Shia states in Egypt, Aleppo, and Hamadan all ceased to exist as a result. The Turkish Seljuks played a great role in fighting the Crusaders and were staunchly Sunnis, and this helped Shiaism move eastward.
So Alevism has Arab theological root but just intermixed with native Iranic and Turkic believes.
It's really sad how Middle Easterners kill each other because of that stupid thing called shia and sunna..
The man is Mauritanian not Yemenite, but he is an expert on the history of Shiaism, and how it shaped the geopolitics of the Middle East on a political, cultural, and religious field. He is also correct because it seem Shiaism indeed migrated with the Yemenite tribes that went to Persia or Khorsan. One of these tribes is Ashar who led the foundation of Shiaism. Also Shiaism became more successful due to the arrival of Arabs from Southern Lebanon and Eastern Arabia in order to act as missionaries for the growth of Shiaism in Persia. Well Shiaism that has intermixed with Sufi, Turkic, and Iranic thought became Alevism, and this what made it to be separated from the bulk of Shiaism.