[75] Prime Minister Erdoğan said that "When it comes to the question, 'Are you recognizing [him] as ecumenical? [59], In 2015 the Turkish government gave permission for the Christian channel SAT-7 to broadcast on the government-regulated Türksat satellite. According to a poll made by MAK, which interviewed 5,400 people in face-to-face through the country, 86% of the Turkish population declared they believe in Allah and 76% declared they believe the Quran and other holy books came through revelation by Allah.

[16], The Eastern Orthodox Church split from Rome during the Great Schism of 1054.

[46], Turkey's Christian community has been largely non-disruptive, with the notable exception of one convert, who hijacked Turkish Airlines Flight 1476 with the stated intent of flying it to the Vatican to meet the Pope and ask for his help to avoid serving in a "Muslim army". In these classes, children are required to learn prayers and other religious practices which belong specifically to Sunnism.

In addition to writings about feminine virtue by Gregory of Nyssa and Gregory of Nazianzos, later texts about Nicholas of Sion and Theodore of Sykeon described miracles and rural life. [36] Some religious and secular officials have also claimed that atheism and deism are growing among Turkish people. [91] The law became a Wedge issue in the public discourse[92], culminating in an early effort to see the law overturned by the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights failing in 2005 when the court deemed it legitimate in Leyla Şahin v. The interest in Tengrism, which is the old Turkic religion, has been increasing in recent years and the number of people who consider themselves Tengrists has increased. Although the Turkish government states that more than 99% of the population is Muslim, academic research and polls give different results of the percentage of Muslims which are sometimes lower, most of which are above the 90% range, but also lower.

[68], During the 8th and 9th centuries, Byzantium was embroiled in the Iconoclastic persecution.

A 16-year-old boy was subsequently charged with the murder and sentenced to 19 years in prison. The death of the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste (modern day Sivas) is recorded as 320 AD during a persecution by Emperor Licinius. The 2009 U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom report placed Turkey on its watchlist with countries such as Afghanistan, Cuba, the Russian Federation, and Venezuela. He wrote: “The consequences of jihad are everywhere. [44][45] In 2016 the Association of Protestant Churches in Turkey released a report warning of an increase in anti-Christian hate speech. Today the Christian population of Turkey is estimated at around 200,000- 320,000 Christians.

Islam is the largest religion in Turkey according to the state, with 99.8% of the population being automatically registered by the state as Muslim, for anyone whose parents are not of any other officially recognised religion and the remaining 0.2% are Christians or adherents of other officially recognised religions. There have been 84 individual Patriarchs since establishment of the Patriarchate.

The Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation found that only 9% of Turks supported a religious state in 2006.

The Church structure is still organized however, with 12 reverends stationed in churches and monasteries there. Since it did not annoy my ancestors, it will not annoy me, either. [93], Subsequently, the issue formed a core of Recep Tayyip Erdogan's first campaign for the presidency in 2007, arguing that it was an issue of human rights and freedoms[94][95] Following his victory, the ban was eliminated in a series of legislative acts starting with an amendment to the constitution in 2008 allowing women to wear headscarfs in Turkish universities while upholding the prohibition of symbols of other religions in that context. [76] There were reportedly 15 Turkish converts in Constantinople in 1864. Up until the 1980s the Syriac population was concentrated there as well, but a large amount of the population has fled the region to Istanbul or abroad due to the Kurdish-Turkish conflict (1978-present). Many Syriacs left during the genocides in 1915.

Since the 4th century, Istanbul (Constantinople) has been the seat of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople (unofficially Fener Rum Ortodoks Patrikhanesi), which is one of the fourteen autocephalous Eastern Orthodox churches, and the primus inter pares (first among equals) in the Eastern Orthodox communion. The government strongly condemned the killing. Islam is the largest religion in Turkey according to the state, with 99.8% of the population being automatically registered by the state as Muslim, for anyone whose parents are not of any other officially recognised religion and the remaining 0.2% are Christians or adherents of other officially recognised religions. After the Ottoman Sultan Mahmud II extended formal recognition to Catholics, an Armenian Catholic Patriarchate was established in Constantinople. After Armenians revolted against an oppressing tax system that favoured the Kurds, the Hamidiye suppressed the revolts with massacres, which the British blamed on the Ottoman regime (even though the initiative came from local militia). In February 2006, an Italian Catholic priest was shot to death in his church in Trabzon, reportedly by a youth angered over the caricatures of Muhammad in Danish newspapers. There is also a small group of ethnic Orthodox-Christian Turks (mostly living in Istanbul or Izmir) who follow the Greek Orthodox or Syriac Orthodox church and additionally Protestant Turks who still face difficulties regarding social acceptance and also historic claims to churches or property in the country because they are from recent converts from Muslim Turkish backgrounds (rather than ethnic minorities). [100] This also includes the blurring of images on television.

The directorate is criticized by some Alevi Muslims for not supporting their beliefs and instead favouring only the Sunni faith. Historically, the Armenian Church accepted only the first three Ecumenical Councils, rejecting the Council of Chalcedon in 451; its Christology is sometimes described as "non-Chalcedonian" for this reason. It is one of the most ancient churches. Later, when Rome sought to assert its primacy over Byzantium, the Eastern Orthodox church developed the doctrine of pentarchy as a response.

Pop. Under current restrictions, only the Sunni Muslim community can legally operate institutions to train new clergy in Turkey for future leadership. Antioch was also the place where the followers of Jesus were called "Christians" for the first time in history, as well as being the site of one of the earliest and oldest surviving churches, established by Saint Peter himself. [58] Its budget is compared with the budgets of other state departments as such: The mainstream Hanafite school of Sunni Islam is largely organised by the state, through the Presidency of Religious Affairs (Turkish: Diyanet İşleri Başkanlığı), which controls all mosques and pays the salaries of all Muslim clerics. Bahá'ís cannot register with the government officially,[32] but there are probably 10[33] to 20[citation needed] thousand Bahá'ís, and around a hundred Bahá'í Local Spiritual Assemblies in Turkey. [64], The Anglicans in Turkey form part of the Eastern Archdeaconry of the Diocese of Gibraltar in Europe.