According to 2009 data on the world's Muslim populations, 71.1 million people in Turkey are Muslims or 98% of the total population. The majority of the Muslims are Sunni (85–90%) and a large minority are Alevi (10–15%), a community within Twelver Shi'a Islam, numbering from 7–11 million. The highest Islamic religious authority is the Presidency of Religious Affairs (Turkish: Diyanet İşleri Başkanlığı), it interprets the Hanafi school of law, and is responsible for regulating the operation of the country's 75,000 registered mosques and employing local and provincial imams. Based on a nationwide survey in 2007 however, it showed 96.8% of Turkish citizens have a religion, while 3.2% are irreligious and atheists.
There are less than 100,000 minorities which follow other religions, mainly Christians, mostly Armenian Apostolic, Assyrian Church of the East and Greek Orthodox (64,000 people) and Jews, mainly Sephardi (26,000 people). According to a Pew Research Center report in 2002, 65% of the people believe religion is very important, while according to a Eurobarometer poll in 2005, 95% of citizens responded that they believe there is a God.
The Eastern Orthodox Church, led by Patriarch Bartholomew I has been headquartered in Istanbul since the fourth century AD. However, the Turkish government does not recognize the Patriarch as the leader of Orthodox Christianity, and forces the Church to operate under significant restrictions. Most of the Church's properties and schools have been expropriated, while Christians remain widely persecuted in Turkey.
Source: www.wikipedia.com
Source: www.wikipedia.com
hello amazing Blog easy canvas prints coupon http://www.prweb.com/releases/easy-canvas-prints/coupon-code/prweb10677711.htm
