Religion in Turkey

Religion In Turkey

Islam is the largest religion of Turkey. Around 99.0% percent of the population is registered as Muslim. Most Muslims in Turkey are Sunnis forming about 70%, and Alevis (branch of Shia Islam) form about 20% of the Muslim population. There is also a Twelver Shia community which forms about 3% of the Muslim population. Christians (Oriental Orthodoxy, Greek Orthodox and Armenian Apostolic) and Jews (Sephardi), who comprise the non-Muslim population make up 0.7% of the total.

Turkey is "officially" a secular country with no official religion since the constitutional amendment in 1924 and later strengthened in the Kemalist Ideology, alongside the Atatürk's reforms and the appliance of laïcité by Atatürk at the end of 1937. However, currently all public schools from elementary to high school hold mandatory religion classes which only focus on the Sunni sector of Islam. In these classes, children are required to learn prayers and other religious practices which belong specifically to Sunnism. Thus, although Turkey claims to be a Secular state, the enforcement of secularism in public grade schools is controversial. Its application to join the EU divided existing members, some of which questioned whether a Muslim country could fit in. Turkey accused its EU opponents of favouring a "Christian club".

Beginning in the 1980s, the role of religion in the state has been a divisive issue, as influential factions challenged the complete secularization called for by Kemalism and the observance of Islamic practices experienced a substantial revival. In the early 2000s (decade), Islamic groups challenged the concept of the secular state with increasing vigor after the Erdoğan government had calmed the issue in 2003. Although the Turkish Government states that 99% of the population is Muslim, academic research and polls give different results of the percentage of Muslims which are usually lower, but most of which are above the 90% range. In the most recent poll conducted by Sabanci University, 98.3% of Turks revealed they were Muslim. Of that, 16% said they were "extremely religious", 39% saying they were "somewhat religious", and 32% saying they were "not religious". 3% of Turks declare themselves with no religious beliefs.