Demographics of Turkey

Modern Turkey spans bustling cosmopolitan centres, pastoral farming villages, barren wastelands, peaceful Aegean and Mediterannean coastlines, and steep mountain regions. More than half of Turkey's population lives in urban areas that juxtapose typically Western lifestyles with mosques and markets.

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Turkey has been officially secular since 1924, although 99% of the population is at least nominally Muslim, a few people insist on being labeled as atheists, a peculiarity unknown in most other Muslim countries where this is at least socially unacceptable, and often a legal offence and a one-way ticket to jail for apostasy.

Related Topics:
Secular - 1924 - Muslim - Apostasy

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Most Turkish Muslims belong to the Sunni branch of Islam, but probably more than 25% are Alevi Muslims, of whom most are ethnic Kurds, and an unknown percentage Shi'a Muslims, mostly in the region along the Armenian-Azerbaijan (Nakhichevan)-Iranian borders.

Related Topics:
Sunni - Alevi - Kurds - Shi'a - Armenian - Azerbaijan - Nakhichevan - Iranian

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The appeal of political Islam and the Kurdish insurgency continue to fuel public debate on several aspects of Turkish society, including the role of religion, the necessity for human rights protections, and the expectation of security.

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