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Protestantism in Turkey

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Protestants are a very small religious minority in Turkey, comprising less than one tenth of one percent of the population.[1] In 2022, there were an estimated 7,000-10,000 Protestants and evangelical Christians.[2]

Though, there are several significant and major Protestant churches and worship sites in Turkey protected legally, most of them are located in the 4 large cities of Istanbul, Izmir, Ankara and Bursa.

Considerable ones and significant communities include the Dutch Union Church of Istanbul, German Protestant Church (Istanbul), Armenian Protestant Church (Istanbul) and the All Saints Church in Istanbul.

Discrimination against Protestants

The constitution of Turkey recognizes freedom of religion for individuals. The Armenian Protestants own three Istanbul Churches from the 19th century.[3]

On November 4, 2006, a Protestant place of worship was attacked with six Molotov cocktails.[4] In 2007, three Protestants were killed at a Bible publishing house in Malatya, allegedly by the illegal and split-away gendarmerie unit JİTEM.[5] Turkish pro-AKP (government) and conservative media have criticized Christian missionary activity intensely.[6]

There is an Alliance of Protestant Churches in Turkey, supporting protection of Protestant rights legally.[7]

By 2022, many Protestant churches reported difficulties in registering places of worship, while some reported that local authorities did not allow the display of crosses on the exterior of their buildings;[8] it is also reported that Protestants wishing to become clergy must leave the country for training, while non-Turkish clergy have difficulty in obtaining visas.

Turkish converts

There is an ethnic Turkish Protestant Christian community in Turkey numbering around ~10,000,[9][10] mostly adherents, and most of them coming from a Muslim Turkish background.[11][12][13][14] In 2003, the Milliyet newspaper claimed that 35,000 Turkish Muslims had converted to Christianity.[15]

A 2015 study estimates about 4,500 Christians are from a previous Muslim background in the country.[16] While other sources estimated the number of the Turkish who converted to Christianity (most of them secret worshippers) between 4,000–6,000, or more than those numbers.[17][18]

Protestant denominations

See also

References

Source of the list: The World Christian Encyclopedia, Second edition, Volume 1, p. 756

  1. ^ "German Site on Christians in Turkey". Archived from the original on 2008-04-04.
  2. ^ US State Dept 2022 report
  3. ^ "German Site on Christians in Turkey". Archived from the original on 2008-04-04.
  4. ^ "Christian Persecution Info". 10 November 2006.
  5. ^ Gengiz, Orhan Kemal. "Malatya Protestant massacre: 5 years later and 7 years before". Today's Zaman. Archived from the original on 2016-02-21. Retrieved 30 May 2012.
  6. ^ "Christianity Today".
  7. ^ "World Evangelical Alliance". Archived from the original on 2013-12-03.
  8. ^ US State Dept 2022 report
  9. ^ "Carlos Madrigal Türkiye'deki Protestanların Sorunu - YouTube". YouTube.
  10. ^ "Christian Converts Live In Fear in Intolerant Turkey". Der Spiegel. 23 April 2007. The liberal newspaper Radikal estimates that there are about 10,000 converts in Turkey, expressing surprise that they could be seen as a "threat" in a country of 73 million people, 99 percent of whom are Muslim.
  11. ^ Turkish Protestants still face "long path" to religious freedom (2011)
  12. ^ Christians in eastern Turkey worried despite church opening (2011)
  13. ^ Muslim Nationalism and the New Turks
  14. ^ TURKEY: Protestant church closed down
  15. ^ "Fearing a new holy empire: Just when Turks are worried about Christians, here comes the Pope". Maclean's. 4 December 2006. More tangibly, figures published in January 2004 in Turkey's mainstream Milliyet newspaper claimed that 35,000 Muslims, the vast majority of them in Istanbul, had converted to Christianity in 2003. While impossible to confirm (the Turkish government does not release these figures), the rate of conversion, according to Christian leaders in Turkey, is on the rise.
  16. ^ Johnstone, Patrick; Miller, Duane Alexander (2015). "Believers in Christ from a Muslim Background: A Global Census". IJRR. 11 (10): 1–19. Retrieved 30 October 2015.
  17. ^ report, MRG international (2007). A Quest for Equality: Minorities in Turkey. Minority Rights Group International. p. 13. ISBN 9781904584636. The estimated number of Protestants in Turkey is 4,000-6,000, most of whom live in Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir. Protestantism has been a part of Turkey's history for 200 years, first spreading among the non-Muslim minorities. Conversion from Islam to Protestantism was very rare until the 1960s, but Muslim converts currently constitute the majority of Protestants..
  18. ^ White, Jenny (2014). Muslim Nationalism and the New Turks: Updated Edition. Princeton University Press. p. 82. ISBN 9781400851256. a number that vastly exceeds the size of present-day Turkish-speaking Protestant churches, of whose 3,000 members are converts from Islam
  19. ^ official web site of Turk Protestant Church
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