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ANKARA: US says Turkey favors Sunni Islam over other creeds

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  • ANKARA: US says Turkey favors Sunni Islam over other creeds

    Cihan News Agency (CNA), Turkey
    July 30, 2014 Wednesday

    US says Turkey favors Sunni Islam over other creeds


    ISTANBUL (CIHAN)- A US State Department report has claimed that the
    Turkish government is prejudiced in favor of its Sunni Islamic
    citizens and neglects the needs of members of the country's other
    minority religions, in addition to frequently employing anti-Semitic
    rhetoric.

    The US State Department Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor
    released its 2013 "International Religious Freedom Report" on Monday.

    In its Turkey section, the report said that the US government
    estimated the Turkish population to be 80.7 million as of July 2013.
    The report also mentioned that according to the Turkish government,
    religious affiliation within the country is 99 percent Muslim, with
    the majority practicing Hanafi Sunni Islam, but "representatives of
    other religious groups state the actual percentage of Muslims is
    slightly lower."

    The report says that academics estimate there are between 15-20
    million Alevis in Turkey, and that "other religious groups, mostly
    concentrated in Istanbul and other large cities, together constitute
    less than 1 percent of the population."

    Mentioning that there are no exact figures available, the report
    stated that there are: "500,000 Shiite Jaferi Muslims; 90,000 Armenian
    Orthodox Christians (of which an estimated 60,000 are citizens and an
    estimated 30,000 are undocumented immigrants from Armenia); 25,000
    Roman Catholics (mostly recent immigrants from Africa and the
    Philippines); 21,000 Jews; 20,000 Syrian Orthodox Christians (also
    known as Syriacs or Suriyanis); 15,000 Russian Orthodox Christians
    (mostly recent immigrants from Russia who hold residence permits);
    10,000 Bahais; 5,000 Yezidis; 5,000 Jehovah's Witnesses; 7,000 members
    of other Protestant denominations; 3,000 Iraqi Chaldean Christians;
    and up to 2,500 Greek Orthodox Christians" in Turkey.

    According to the report, some groups estimate that approximately 2
    percent of the population is atheist.

    The State Department report added: "Non-Sunni Muslims, Christians,
    Bahais and members of other minority religious groups faced threats
    and societal suspicion, and Jewish leaders reported some elements of
    society continued to express anti-Semitic sentiments. Because
    ethnicity and religion were often inextricably linked, it was
    difficult to categorize many incidents specifically as ethnic or
    religious intolerance."

    The report expressed the concern of many Jewish leaders, some of whom
    " attribute anti-Semitic graffiti and threats to events in the Middle
    East and anti-Semitic rhetoric by Prime Minister [Recep Tayyip]
    Erdogan and other government officials."


    The Gezi Park protests which started in Istanbul last summer were
    described in the report as "anti-government protests." The report also
    said that "Erdogan and several senior government officials repeatedly
    and publicly blamed 'shadowy' international groups for the unrest,
    including ... an 'international Jewish conspiracy' [and an]
    'interest-rate lobby'." The report pointed out that in July last year,
    "Deputy Prime Minister Besir Atalay blamed the 'Jewish diaspora' for
    the Gezi Park unrest, [and that] these statements by senior political
    leaders were accompanied by anti-Semitic reports and commentaries in
    media outlets friendly to the government."

    According to the report, "[the Turkish Constitution] and other laws
    and policies generally protect religious freedom, although there were
    some constitutional provisions, laws and policies that restrict
    religious freedom." While the report praised the government for
    lifting the ban on headscarves in public except for judges,
    prosecutors, police and the military, it criticized the failure to
    approve the opening of the Greek Orthodox Halki seminary, which has
    been closed more than 40 years.

    The report also cited the government's announcement that it will
    return "disputed land to the Mor Gabriel Syriac Orthodox Monastery" as
    a positive development.

    Problem of Alevi places of worship

    The government continues to refuse to recognize Alevi places of
    worship (cemevis) as legal places of worship, according to the report.
    The Turkish government considers Alevism a heterodox Muslim sect and
    does not financially support Alevi religious practices.

    The report also described Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen as a
    "well-known Sunni theologian," while mentioning his support for three
    Alevi and three Sunni businessmen who conducted a ground-breaking
    ceremony in Ankara in September for a religious and cultural complex
    which included -- for the first time -- a mosque and a cemevi side by
    side. However, 11 Alevi foundations last year released a statement
    condemning the construction, calling it a "project of assimilation."

    "Although religious speech and conversions are legal, some Muslims,
    Christians, and Bahais faced government restrictions, surveillance,
    and harassment for alleged proselytizing," said the report. The report
    mentioned that it was "generally not possible" for foreigners to
    obtain a "religious worker visa" in Turkey, although the government
    claims it is possible. Several foreigners, including US citizens, who
    resided in Turkey under other visa categories "were deported after
    requesting religious worker residence permits," the report claimed.
    Persons wishing to convert from Islam, according to the report,
    experienced harassment and violence from relatives and neighbors.

    "The government continued not to recognize the status of the
    Ecumenical Patriarchate as the leader of the world's 300 million
    Orthodox Christians, consistent with its stance there was no legal
    obligation to do so," the report said. Turkey says the Patriarch is
    not "'ecumenical,' but only the religious leader of the country's
    Greek Orthodox minority population."

    According to the report, Bahais, Alevis and Yezidis are unable to have
    their religious identity stated on their national identity cards
    because their groups are not listed as options. (Cihan/Today's Zaman)
    CIHAN

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