The established presence of Islam in the region that now constitutes modern Turkey dates back to the later half of the 11th century, when the Seljuks started expanding into eastern Anatolia.
The Turks began converting to Islam after the Muslim conquest of Transoxiana through the efforts of missionaries, Sufis, and merchants. Although initiated by the Arabs, the conversion of the Turks to Islam was filtered through Persian and Central Asian culture.
Some intellectuals and writers of the period claimed that the old religion of the Turks was Shamanism. Even today, research is being done on this subject. Evaluating all the studies and claims, Hikmet Tanyu has stated that the Turks had the belief in the Sky God before Islam.
In Turkey, secularism or laicism (or laïcité) was first introduced with the 1928 amendment of the Constitution of 1924, which removed the provision declaring that the "Religion of the State is Islam", and with the later reforms of Turkey's first president Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, which set the administrative and ...
Although Islam is being seen as slowly being eroded by 'secular izaition-by-modernization,'I it is still seen as a very strong, if subtle, force in the Turkish social fabric. This thesis explores the influence of Islam in Turkey today.
Iran and Turkey are not Arab countries and their primary languages are Farsi and Turkish respectively. Arab countries have a rich diversity of ethnic, linguistic, and religious communities. These include Kurds, Armenians, Berbers and others. There are over 300 million Arabs.
Turkish people are a branch of Oghuz Turks who immigrated to Antolia and Azerbaijan. They took over Byzantine Empire, a Chrisitian nation, and built Ottoman Empire, an Islamic nation. Before Turks came in contact with Arabs, they used to be followers of Tengerism.
The ruling was widely seen as a victory for Turks who claimed this maintained Turkey's separation of state and religion. In 2013, the headscarf ban in public institutions was lifted through a decree, even though the ban officially stood through court decisions. The ban on wearing hijab in high schools ended in 2014.
According to the state, 99.8% of the population is initially registered as Muslim. As much as 90% of the population follows Sunni Islam. Most Turkish Sunni Muslims belong to the Hanafi school of jurisprudence. The remaining 0.2% are Christians and adherents of other officially recognised religions like Judaism.
However, in the 1930s and 1940s, the Kemalist regime in Turkey was committed to end this tradition. The recitation of the call to prayer was in Turkish until June 16, 1950 when the National Assembly amended the law which banned its performance in Arabic.
The percentage of Christians in Turkey fell mainly as a result of the late Ottoman genocides: the Armenian genocide, Greek genocide, and Assyrian genocide, the population exchange between Greece and Turkey, the emigration of Christians that began in the late 19th century and gained pace in the first quarter of the 20th ...
More than 90% of the Turkish population is muslim, whom are not allowed to eat pork for religious reasons. Pigmeat in Turkey is sold to ethnic minorities like Greeks, ex-patriates and tourists.
Kemalist secularism, with its history of controlling religion, is a major factor making Islam in Turkey different from Islam elsewhere. In a general survey, 85 percent declared confidence in the army, 71 percent in the police, 60 percent in the courts, 54 percent in Parliament and only 49 percent in the government.
After the abolition of the Ottoman Caliphate and the establishment of the Republic of Turkey in 1923, Turkey reorientated itself towards the West, turning away from the Arab and Islamic East. Arabic-language teaching was banned in schools, as was the Arabic, Islamic call to prayer in the country's mosques.
Turks, originally a nomadic people from Central Asia, established several empires, including the Seljuk Empire and later the Ottoman Empire, which was founded in Anatolia by Turkish ruler Osman in 1299.
The framers of this change, including Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, understood it as liberation, the casting off of an archaic, oppressive, and "alien" alphabet in favor of something vibrant, modern, and more faithful to the true character of the Turkish language.
The constitution defines the country as a secular state. It provides for freedom of conscience, religious belief, conviction, expression, and worship and prohibits discrimination based on religious grounds.
In conclusion, you can drink alcohol in Turkey, but there are some important restrictions and regulations that you should be aware of. The legal drinking age is 18, and it is illegal to drink alcohol in public places. Restaurants, bars, and hotels are allowed to serve alcohol, but they must have a license to do so.
You should dress modestly in knee-length dresses, long skirts, or pants. It is usually possible to borrow or purchase a head covering at the most popular mosques in Istanbul. If you plan to visit mosques, you may consider taking a regular scarf in your bag which you can easily drape over your head and shoulders.
Several Muslim-majority countries have banned the burqa and Hijab in public schools and universities or government buildings, including Tunisia (since 1981, partially lifted in 2011), Turkey (gradually and partially lifted),Kosovo (since 2009), Azerbaijan (since 2010), Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan.
The Turban was banned in the early 19th Century and replaced with the fez, which was also banned when the Republic was born in 1923. Turks do not wear turbans and haven't for over 2 centuries.
In recent years, the government has been specifically targeting foreign Christian workers despite their lawful and often decades-long residence in Turkey. Between 2020 and 2023, the Turkish government placed entry bans on or expelled at least 160 foreign workers and their families.
It's true that the New Testament in the Bible began with Christ and his apostles on the day of Pentecost A.D. 33 and the Bible was in Greek. Important historical facts: Istanbul was originally known as Constantinople and was where world Christianity had its temple church of God, Saint Hagia Sophia, Holy Wisdom.
The majority of believers belong to the Orthodox Christian denomination. Russia adopted Christianity under Prince Vladimir of Kiev in 988, in a ceremony patterned on Byzantine rites. Russia's baptism laid the foundations for the rise of the Russian Orthodox Church.
