Turkey is home to between 12,000 and 16,000 Jews, several thousand people of various other faiths, and several hundred thousand Christians. About 25,000 of those are Roman Catholics, many of them migrants from Africa and the Philippines, according to a 2022 report by the U.S. State Department.
Unlike some other majority-Muslim countries, Turkey’s 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, according to the U.S. State Department. However, Turkey is one of the 95 countries in the world that criminalizes blasphemy, in this case against Islam, punishable by six months to one year in prison.
According to the advocacy group Open Doors, a strong presence of religious nationalism and an emphasis on Islamic values by the government in Turkey creates pressure on believers of other faiths. The government also maintains a list of recognized religions and registers and records people’s religious affiliation on an electronic chip on ID cards. Although Christianity is broadly recognized, the government fails to recognize Armenian Apostolic Orthodox Christians and Greek Orthodox Christians, as well as Jews.
“Christians are viewed as a negative Western influence, and those who choose to follow Jesus — whether from Islam or secularism — can face pressure from their families and communities to recant their faith,” Open Doors reported.
According to the group In Defense of Christians (IDC), religious groups of various creeds face restrictions on their rights to own and maintain property, to train clergy, and to offer religious education. In particular, the Turkish government continues to interfere in the administration of the Greek Orthodox Church’s Holy Synod as well as with the Armenian Patriarchate, including the selection of leadership, IDC says.
Under President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, many aspects of Turkish society have increased their favoritism for Islam to the detriment of other religious communities. In a significant move in 2020, Erdoğan reconverted the cathedral of Hagia Sophia — formerly a museum — and another historic Christian church in Istanbul into mosques.
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