Christianity in Turkey

Turkish Christians
Türk Hristiyanlar
Total population
Est. 200,000–320,000[1][2]
Religions
Christianity (Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Church, Oriental Orthodoxy, Protestant)
Languages
Turkish, Greek, Ecclesiastical Latin, Koine Greek, Armenian, Syriac, Arabic, Russian, Georgian, English, German, Korean, Persian
Religion in Turkey

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    icon Christianity portal
    Greek-Orthodox metropolises in Asia Minor, c. 1880

    Christianity in Turkey has a long history dating back to the early origins of Christianity in Asia Minor during the 1st century AD. In modern times the percentage of Christians in Turkey has declined from 20-25% in 1914, to about 2% in 1927, to 0.2–0.4% today[3][4][5][6][7] Sources estimate that the Christian population in Turkey ranges between 180,000 and 320,000.[8][9] However, the exact number remains unclear due to the absence of a religious census in the country. The percentage of Christians in Turkey fell mainly as a result of the late Ottoman genocides:[18] the Armenian genocide, Greek genocide, and Assyrian genocide,[19] the population exchange between Greece and Turkey,[16][10][20] the emigration of Christians that began in the late 19th century and gained pace in the first quarter of the 20th century,[16][21] and due to events such as the 1942 Varlık Vergisi tax levied on non-Muslim citizens in Turkey and the 1955 Istanbul pogrom against Greek and Armenian Christians.[16] Exact numbers are difficult to estimate,[22] as many Turkish former Muslim converts to Christianity often hide their Christian faith for fear of familial pressure, religious discrimination, and persecution.[10][23][24]

    This was due to events which had a significant impact on the country's demographic structure, such as the First World War,[25] the anti-Christian genocides of Greeks, Armenians, and Assyrians perpetrated by Turkish Muslims,[26] and the population exchange between Greece and Turkey,[10][27] and the emigration of persecuted Christians (such as Assyrians, Greeks, Armenians, etc.) to foreign countries (mostly in Europe and the Americas) that actually began in the late 19th century and gained pace in the first quarter of the 20th century, especially during World War I.[16][17][28] Signed after the WW1, the Treaty of Lausanne explicitly guarantees the security and protection of both Greek and Armenian Orthodox Christian minorities. Their religious institutions are being recognized officially by the Republic of Turkey.[29][30]

    In 2011 according to the Pew Research Center, there were more than 200,000-320,000 people of different Christian denominations in Turkey,[31] representing roughly 0.3-0.4 percent of Turkey's population,[3][4] including an estimated 80,000 population of Oriental Orthodox Christians,[32] 47,000 Turkish Orthodox Christians,[33][34] 35,000 Roman Catholic Christians,[35] 18,000 Antiochian Greeks,[36] 5,000 Greek Orthodox Christians,[32] 8,000 Protestant Christians, 4,994 Jehovah's Witnesses,[37] and 512 Mormons.[38] There is also a small group of ethnic Orthodox-Christian Turks (mostly living in Istanbul and İzmir) who follow the Greek Orthodox, Turkish Orthodox, or Syriac Orthodox churches, 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 former Muslim converts to Christianity from Turkish–Muslim background, rather than ethnic minorities.[23] Ethnically Turkish Protestants number around 7,000–8,000.[39][40] In 2009, there were 236 Christian churches open for worship in Turkey.[41] The Eastern Orthodox Church has been headquartered in Constantinople since the 4th century AD.[42][43][23]

    In 2020 the Anadolu Agency, a state-run news agency of the Turkish government, claimed that the number of Christians in Turkey was 180,854, which corresponds to 0.2% of the population.[44] In a 2022 report of the U.S. Department of State, Christians were seen as being 0.2% of the population.[45] The estimated number of adherents mainly refers to Armenian Orthodox Christians, Armenian Catholics, Chaldean Catholics, Eastern Catholics, Greek Orthodox Christians, Oriental Orthodox Christians, Protestants, and Syriac Orthodox Christians, as well as smaller groups.[45] It was noted that the number of Eastern Orthodox Christians had risen sharply, mainly due to refugees from Russia and Ukraine.[45] In 2024, Freedom House rated the country 2 out of 4 for religious freedom; this was mainly due to disputes over land.[46] The Mor Ephrem Syriac Orthodox church, opened in October 2023, was the first church built since the foundation of the Republic of Turkey.[47]

    1. ^ The World Factbook Archived 4 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine (in Hebrew)
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    43. ^ Erwin Fahlbusch; Geoffrey William Bromiley (2001). The Encyclopedia of Christianity. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. p. 40. ISBN 978-90-04-11695-5. Archived from the original on January 15, 2023. Retrieved July 24, 2018. The Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople is the ranking church within the communion of ... Between the 4th and 15th centuries, the activities of the patriarchate took place within the context of an empire that not only was ...
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