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| *Travel Tips>>>Turkey Travel Tips |
Religion in Turkey? |
Travel Info Acoording to official sources, Muslims are 97% of the population, A few people who adhire Christianity (among Armenians, Greeks etc.) Other sources say Turkey is very secular. What percentage op the population is secular (atheist, agnostic, non-practizising Islam, liberal)? Are they a majority? Travel Tips There are people non-religious. There are people acting as religious ones but not at all. There are people consider they're religious but just practicing their cultural.Those people generally live in eastern Turkey. There are people strict about their beliefs.They judge anyone else do not think as they do and consider themselves as perfect. There are people do not believe in anything. There are people non-Muslims. Therefore,it is a real relativity problem. Others Well, you got it right (so I'm not quite understanding the question)... according to the encyclopedia ... Nominally, 97.4% of the Turkish population is Muslim, of whom a majority belong to the Sunni branch of Islam. A sizeable minority of the population is affiliated with the Alevi sect. The remainder of the population belongs to other beliefs, particularly Christian denominations (Greek Orthodox, Armenian Apostolic, Syriac Orthodox, Chaldean Catholic, Church of the East), Judaism, Yezidism and Atheism. The mainstream Hanafite school of Sunni Islam is largely organised by the state, through the Diyanet 陌艧leri Ba艧kanl谋臒谋 (Religious Affairs Directorate), which controls all mosques and Muslim clerics. The directorate is criticized by some Alevi Muslims for not supporting their beliefs and instead favoring the Sunni faith. The Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople (Patrik) is the head of the Greek Orthodox Church in Turkey, and also serves as the spiritual leader of all Orthodox churches throughout the world. The Armenian Patriarch is the head of the Armenian Church in Turkey, while the Jewish community is led by the Hahamba艧谋, Turkey's Chief Rabbi, based in 陌stanbul. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/religion_in... The same link will send you to other links that may answer your ??? regarding: Islam in Turkey Secularism in Turkey Cultural Muslim Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople History of the Jews in Turkey Roman Catholicism in Turkey Malatya bible publishing firm murders Practising muslims(incl. Alevis): 45% Non-practising muslims: 48% Atheists-deists: 5% Christian-Jewish:2% My estimates The Turkish Constitution is secular that is matters of religion and State have been separated for many many decades since the Republic of Turkey was formed from the ashes of the Ottoman Empire. However, the vast majority of Turks themselves would be Muslims. You must remember that the head of the Orthodox Church is still in Istanbul and has been for over 1000 years. The Ottomans and consequently the Republic of Turkey have been very tolerant towards other religions. In public ceremonies people swear on the Flag not on God. Have a read of what a former Australian Ambassador had to say about the Turks and specifically his last paragraph about the Ottoman Empire and I quote, (This letter was published in The Australian Newspaper), Mr. George Karagiannakis's letter (2/6/94), making all sorts of incredible allegations against Turkey in regard to its domestic and foreign policies, should not be allowed to go unanswered. It is not possible in the space of a few lines to answer all of his allegations. However, in fairness to the truth, the following points must be made: The 'facts beyond credible dispute' to which he alludes are in fact based largely on fictions to justify unrealistic ambitions or failures in the past to achieve totally unrealistic goals. Whilst it is true and sad that many Armenians lost their lives in their own bid for territory, what is not recognized is that the Armenians themselves inflicted as much damage as others in the hostilities of that time, goaded on by some Western powers for their own selfish and geopolitical objectives. The Turks had no deliberate policy of genocide at any stage, only the removal of Armenians from the front line with Russia, where they were collaborating with the Ottoman Empire's enemies and were thus a threat to its security. The Kurdish issue is more complex. Two points are relevant: The PKK, like IRA, is a terrorist organization, SUPPORTED MATERIALLY BY THE GREEKS AND ARMENIANS, with the stated objective of destabilizing Turkey. It has so far assassinated over 10,000 people in Turkey. It has no justifiable claim to represent the Kurdish people. Most Kurds are integrated into Turkish society. About one-third of the Turkish Parliament is of Kurdish origin. This illustrates the absence of discrimination. As for Cyprus, if any genocide or ethnic cleansing has taken place, this has always been carried out by the Greeks. The abortive coup of 1974, organized by EOKA and Greek colonels, aimed at elimination of the Turkish Cypriots from the Island. Turkey intervened to protect them and prevent Enosis. Since that date, the island has been peaceful and free of bloodshed. Turkey has consistently supported a fair and reasonable settlement on Cyprus, but one that gives the Turkish Cypriots a secure future and equal political and social status with the Greek Cypriots. The real problem between Greece and Turkey is Greece's reluctance to give up its Megali idea, that is, the recovery of the territories occupied by the Byzantine Empire, which finally fell to the Turks in 1453. All the many conflicts between Greece and Turkey over the past two centuries have been initiated by Greece. Your correspondent's reference to bloodied Turkish history is therefore clearly wrong, except in the fact that in the past three Greek-initiated conflicts, the Turks gave the Greeks a severe hiding, which partly accounts for the large fall in numbers of Greeks in present-day Turkey. Regarding persecution. the Ottomans had one of the most tolerant policies towards non-Turks of any empire of its day. The three communities of Jews, Greeks and Armenians were virtually autonomous within the empire." P. F. Peters Former Australian Ambassador to Turkey (The Australian, June 9th, 1994) Why this question? Being secular does not mean being atheist. It means the country is run by secular rather than religious powers. Turkey is a secular country. Tell me a country were atheists are the majority. Just name one! Is it yours? By the way Turkey is less religious than Poland. |
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