Irreligion in Turkey

Irreligious Turks are a minority, although precise estimates of the share of deists, atheists, and agnostics in the population vary. Islam is the predominant faith.[1] One study in Turkey reported that 95% believe in God while 75% are religious.[2][3] Another study, done by a French company which interviewed 17,180 adults across 22 countries, stated that atheists accounted for 7% of those who were interviewed from Turkey while agnostics accounted for 3%.[4] It is difficult to quantify the number of atheists or agnostics in Turkey, as they are not officially counted in the census of the country. The data also suggests that 85% of all irreligious people are younger than 35.[5] There is a great stigma attached to being an atheist in Turkey, so many Turkish atheists communicate with each other via the internet.[6][7][8][9]

According to Ipsos, which interviewed 17,180 adults across 22 countries poll's showed that 82% of Turkey was Muslim and 7% of those who were interviewed from Turkey followed no religion whereas 6% identified as "Spiritual but not religious".[10]

According to a poll made by MAK in 2017, 86% of the Turkish population declared they believe in God. 76% declared they believe Quran and other holy books came through revelation by God.[11] According to another poll made in 2019 by OPTİMAR, 89% of the Turkish population declared they believe in God.[12]

An early April 2018 report of the Turkish Ministry of Education, titled "The Youth is Sliding to Deism", observed that an increasing number of pupils in İmam Hatip schools was abandoning Islam in favour of deism. The report's publication generated large-scale controversy amongst conservative Muslim groups in Turkish society. Progressive Islamic theologian Mustafa Öztürk noted the deist trend a year earlier, arguing that the "very archaic, dogmatic notion of religion" held by the majority of those claiming to represent Islam was causing “the new generations [to get] indifferent, even distant, to the Islamic worldview.” Despite lacking reliable statistical data, numerous anecdotes appear to point in this direction. Although some commentators claim the secularisation is merely a result of Western influence or even a "conspiracy", but some commentators, even some pro-government ones, have come to conclude that "the real reason for the loss of faith in Islam is not the West but Turkey itself.[13]

Association of Atheism (Ateizm Derneği), the first official atheist organisation in Middle East and Caucasus, was founded in 2014.[14] In 2018 it was reported in some media outlets that the Ateizm Derneği would close down because of the pressure on its members and attacks by pro-government media, but the association itself issued a clarification that this was not the case and that it was still active.[15]