Turkey is a secular state in accordance with Article 24 of its constitution. Secularism in Turkey derives from Mustafa Kemal Atatürk's Six Arrows: republicanism, populism, laïcité, reformism, nationalism and statism. The Turkish government imposes some restrictions on Muslims and other religious groups, as well as Muslim religious expression in government offices and state-run institutions, including universities.Turkey: International Religious Freedom Report 2007. United States Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor.
In 2023, the country was scored 2 out of 4 for religious freedom; land disputes for religious buildings are a large source of tension.
Religious demography
According to the Turkish government, 99% of the population is Muslim (predominantly Sunni). The World Factbook lists 99.8 percent of Turkey's population as Muslim.CIA Information on Turkey; accessed on 11 October 2009 The government recognizes three minority religious communities: Greek Orthodox Christians, Armenian Apostolic Christians and Jews (although other non-Muslim communities exist).US State Dept 2022 report. United States Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor. The 2006 report of the U.S. Department of State enumerated the following religious minorities in Turkey: Armenian Apostolic Christians65,000Jews23,000Greek Orthodox Christians6,500Baha'is10,000Syrian Orthodox (Syriac) Christians15,000Yazidis5,000Jehovah's Witnesses3,300Protestants3,000
These figures were largely repeated in the 2009 U.S. Department of State reportTurkey: International Religious Freedom Report 2009, United States Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, released on 26 October 2009, accessed on 10 November 2009 with a difference of up to 3,000 Greek Orthodox Christians with an additional 3,000 Chaldean Catholics. The number of Syriac Christians and Yazidis in the southeast was once high; however, due to government pressure and the war with the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), many Syriac Christians migrated to Istanbul, Western Europe and North and South America in the early 2000's. According to Turkish sociologist Ahmet Taşğın, Yazidis in Turkey numbered 22,632 in 1985; by 2000, the population had dropped to 423.See the article Yezidilerin soyu tükeniyor (Yazidis close to extinction) ; published on 13 August 2005 and accessed on 11 October 2009 Taşğın said that 23,546 Syriac Christians lived in Turkey in 1985 and 2,010 in 2001.Quoted according to an undated article in the journal Chronicle ; ; accessed on 11 October 2009
As a signatory of the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne, Turkey recognizes the civil, political and cultural rights of non-Muslim minorities. In practice, the country recognizes Greek, Armenian and Jewish religious minorities but does not grant them all the rights stipulated in the treaty. Alevi-Bektashi and Câferî MuslimsThe World of the Alevis: Issues of Culture and Identity, Gloria L. Clarke Latin Catholics, and Protestants are not officially recognized.
+ Religions in TurkeyReligionsEstimated populationExpropriation measuresOfficial recognitionGovernment financing Sunni Islam 70 to 85% (52 to 64 million) No Yes, through the Diyanet mentioned in the Constitution (Article 136)Anayasa 2011 TBMM Yes, through the Diyanet Twelver Islam-Bektashi 15 to 25% (11 to 19 million) Yes No. In 1826, with the abolition of the Janissary corps, the Bektashi tekke (Dervish convent) was closed. No Twelver Islam-Alevi No. In the early 15th century, due to Ottoman oppression, Alevi supported the Turkmen shah Ismail I. Ismail's supporters, who wear a red cap with twelve folds, were called Qizilbash.Ottomans considered Qizilbash (Alevi) enemies because of their supposed heresy. Today, cemevi (places of worship of Alevi) have no official recognition. Twelver Islam-Câferî 4% (3 million)Rapport Minority Rights Group Bir eşitlik arayışı: Türkiye’de azınlıklar Uluslararası Azınlık Hakları Grubu 2007 Dilek Kurban No No Twelver Islam-Alawite 300,000 to 350,000 No No Judaism Yes Yes, through the Treaty of Lausanne (1923) No Christian (Protestant) No No Christian (Roman Catholics)25,000 No No Christian (Greek Catholics) Yes Yes, through the Treaty of Lausanne (1923) No Greek Orthodox (Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople)203,500 Yes Yes, through the Treaty of Lausanne (1923) No Armenian Orthodox (Armenian Patriarchate of Constantinople) 90,000 Yes Yes, through the Treaty of Lausanne (1923) No Turkish Orthodox (Autocephalous Turkish Orthodox Patriarchate) No No Chaldean (Armenian) Christians Yes Yes, through the Treaty of Lausanne No Syriac Orthodox and Catholic Churches Yes No No Tengrism 1,000 No No Yazidi 377 No No
Status of religious freedom Legal and policy frameworks
The 1928 constitution established the country as a secular state and provides for freedom of belief and worship and the private dissemination of religious ideas. However, other constitutional provisions for the integrity of the secular state restrict these rights. The constitution prohibits discrimination on religious grounds.
The two main Islamic streams in Turkey are Sunni and Alevi. Alevi are the minority in Turkey, estimated at 17 percent of the Muslim population. During the late 1970s, violent clashes occurred due to conflict between these two Islamic branches.See the Amnesty International report: Prosecution of Religious Activists, published in November 1987 (AI INDEX: EUR 44/74/87) reproduced in a private Wiki, accessed on 21 September 2009 In December 1978 militants in Kahramanmaraş agitated the Sunni population against the Alevi inhabitants of the town, and more than 100 people were killed. On 2 July 1993, Alevi intellectuals were attacked in Sivas; the Sivas massacre resulted in the deaths of 37 people.Turkey commemorates 15th anniversary of Sivas massacre, undated article in Hürriyet, accessed on 10 November 2009
Religious education is compulsory at the primary and secondary levels, according to Article 24 of the constitution, and Sunni theology predominates. A number of Alevis alleged discrimination in the government's failure to include their doctrines and beliefs in religious courses. In October 2007, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled in favor of an Alevi parent who filed suit in 2004 claiming that the mandatory religious courses violated religious freedom. The government then added a 10-page overview of Aleviism to the textbook for the final year of religious instruction.See the 2008 Human Rights Report of the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor (US State Department) of 25 February 2009; accessed on 21 September 2009
In December 2008, the Minister of Culture participated in the opening of the first Alevi Institute and apologised to the Alevis for past sufferings caused by the state. In January 2009, the Prime Minister attended an Alevi fast-breaking ceremony for the second consecutive year. The government held workshops aimed at openly discussing Alevi problems and expectations.
The Turkish government oversees Muslim religious facilities and education through its Directorate of Religious Affairs, under the authority of the Prime Minister. The directorate regulates the operation of the country's 77,777 registered mosques and employs local and provincial imams (who are civil servants). Sunni imams are appointed and paid by the state. The Alevis pray in cemevleri (gathering places), which have no legal status as places of worship. However, the Kuşadası and Tunceli municipalities ruled in 2008 that Alevi cemevleri are places of worship. Three municipal councils recognised cemevleri as places of worship, granting them the same financial advantages as mosques. Administrative courts in Antalya, Ankara and Istanbul ruled that Alevi students should be exempted from attending the mandatory religion and ethics course, and a similar ruling by the Izmir administrative court was confirmed by the Council of State.Turkey 2009 Progress Report by the European Commission for Enlargement, dated 14 October; accessed on 10 November 2009 In 2009 the state TV channel, TRT, announced its plan to air programs reflecting the interests of the Alevi minority.
In the early 2000s, a separate government agency, the General Directorate for Foundations (GDF), regulated activities of non-Muslim religious groups and their affiliated churches, monasteries, synagogues and related religious property. The GDF recognized 161 "minority foundations", including Greek Orthodox foundations with about 61 sites, Armenian Orthodox foundations with about 50 sites, and Jewish foundations with 20 sites and Syriac Christian, Chaldean, Bulgarian Orthodox, Georgian and Maronite foundations. They also regulated Muslim charitable religious foundations, including schools, hospitals and orphanages, assessing whether they are operating within their stated objectives.
In 1936, the government required all foundations to declare their sources of income. In 1974, amid political tensions over Cyprus, the High Court of Appeals ruled that minority foundations had no right to acquire properties beyond those listed in the 1936 declarations. The court ruling introduced a process in which the state seized control of properties acquired after 1936.
Minority religious groups, particularly the Greek and Armenian Orthodox communities, have lost a number of properties to the state in the past. In many cases, the government has expropriated property on the grounds that it is not being utilized. At least two appeals were filed in this regard: the Fener Boys School and the Buyukada Orphanage (the latter closed in 1964). These cases are often appealed to the Council of State (Danıştay) and, if unsuccessful there, to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). On July 8, 2008, the ECHR ruled that Turkey had violated the Ecumenical Patriarchate's property rights to the orphanage on Büyükada. In compliance with this ruling, the deed to the building was returned to the ecumenical patriarchate on November 29, 2010.
The law restricting religious property rights was amended in 2002 to allow minority foundations to acquire property, but the government continued to apply an article allowing it to expropriate properties in areas where the local non-Muslim population drops significantly or where the foundation is deemed to no longer perform the function for which it was created. There is no specific minimum threshold for such a population drop, which is left to the discretion of the GDF. This is problematic for small populations (such as the Greek Orthodox community), since they maintain more properties than the local community needs; many are historic or significant to the Orthodox world.
Greek Orthodox, Armenian Orthodox and Jewish religious groups may operate schools under the supervision of the Education Ministry. The curricula of the schools include information unique to the cultures of the groups. The Ministry reportedly verifies if the child's father or mother is from that minority community before the child may enroll. Other non-Muslim minorities do not have schools of their own.
The Caferis, the country's principal Shi'a community (between 500,000 and 1,000,000, concentrated in eastern Turkey and Istanbul), do not face restrictions on their religious freedom. They build and operate their own mosques and appoint their own imams; however, as with the Alevis, by 2009 their places of worship had no legal status and received no support from the Diyanet.
Churches operating in Turkey generally face administrative challenges to employ foreign church personnel, apart from the Catholic Church and congregations linked to the diplomatic community. These administrative challenges, restrictions on training religious leaders and difficulty obtaining visas have led to a decrease in the number of Christian clergy. In 2022, it was noted that between 60-100 Christian missionaries had been deported.
Restrictions on religious freedom