Why did the first Safavid Shia become Shia?

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In the source cited in the Wikipedia article about Khvajeh Ali Safavi, it says:

Much about the early Safavid order remains unclear. One point of uncertainty is the precise nature of their religious beliefs. Originally, they seem to have harbored Sunni convictions, but under Ḵᵛāja ʿAli they are said to have gravitated toward Shiʿism under the influence of their main supporters—Turkmen tribes who adhered to a popular brand of Shiʿism. Originating as it did in a frontier region rife with primordial beliefs mixing cabbalistic and millenarian elements, their belief system had long borne little relation to orthodox Twelver Shiʿism.

So to the extent that Khvajeh Ali Safavi's beliefs can really be described as Shia, it was due to Turkmen influence.

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