EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The constitution defines the country as a secular state. It provides for freedom of conscience, religious belief, conviction, expression, and worship and prohibits discrimination based on religious grounds. The Presidency of Religious Affairs (Diyanet), a state institution, governs and coordinates religious matters related to Islam; its mandate is to enable the practice of Islam, provide religious education, and manage religious institutions. The penal code prohibits blasphemy and provides punishment for “inciting hatred and enmity,” including showing public disrespect for religious beliefs, and it criminalizes “insulting values held sacred by a religion.”
The court case continued of nine Kurdish imams arrested in 2021 on terrorism-related charges for preaching in their native language; three defendants remained under judicial control (reporting to a local police station) at year’s end. The government continued to limit the rights of non-Muslim religious minorities, especially those not recognized under the government’s interpretation of the 1923 Lausanne Treaty, which includes only Armenian Apostolic Orthodox Christians, Jews, and Greek Orthodox Christians. The government continued to categorize Alevi worship as cultural rather than religious and did not recognize Alevi houses of worship, while Alevis continued to state that their faith deserved government recognition as such. Media outlets and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) reported continued entry bans and deportations of noncitizen members of Protestant congregations, and the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) International said authorities “continued to undermine religious freedom by deliberately attempting to stifle the spread of Christianity.” Government authorities in Bolu Province, who in January arrested 17 Iranian Christians and held them in removal centers for potential deportation back to Iran, later released them after they reportedly agreed to cease their home-based worship. In July, UN human rights experts called on the government to refrain from deporting 104 Ahmadi Followers of Peace and Light to their countries of origin. UN officials said most members remained in detention at year end. According to the Jehovah’s Witnesses 2023 annual report, the government did not provide civilian service alternatives to mandatory military service and did not make legislative amendments in accordance with European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) rulings in favor of Jehovah’s Witnesses. The report also said Jehovah’s Witnesses could not establish suitable places of worship because of zoning restrictions and building specifications, and group members faced fines for preaching door to door or in public places. In September, there were protests against the government’s enactment of a regulation requiring middle school students to take an additional two hours of Sunni Islam religion classes weekly and the appointment of imams in schools as spiritual counselors. The Greek Orthodox Halki Seminary on Heybeliada Island remained closed. In March, a court overturned a prior court’s ban on the translation of the Quran by Islamic theologian Ihsan Eliacik. There were continued reports of damage to the Hagia Sophia, originally built in the sixth century as a church, which the government reconverted to a mosque in 2020. Jewish citizens said government anti-Israel rhetoric gave impetus to openly antisemitic public protests. On October 18, a Samsun City Council member praised Hitler for killing Jews as he condemned an October 17 explosion at a hospital in Gaza, initially and incorrectly blamed on Israel.
According to media, in February, Istanbul police arrested 15 suspects with ties to ISIS-Khorasan (ISIS-K) for an alleged plot to target synagogues and churches in the city. Media continued to report acts of vandalism of places of worship and cemeteries. Unidentified assailants attacked Islamic theologian and religion education teacher Cemil Kilic in March. Also in March, media outlets reported high school students performed the Nazi salute during a soccer game against a Jewish high school. Antisemitic discourse and hate speech continued in social and print media and increased in reaction to Israel’s action in Gaza following the October 7 Hamas terrorist attack. For example, following escalation of the Israel-Hamas conflict in October, an opinion piece in Islamic daily Yeni Akit called on the government to revoke the citizenship of Turkish Jews who serve in the Israeli military.
Senior U.S. embassy and consulate officials regularly engaged with government officials throughout the year, including at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Diyanet, and the Directorate General of Foundations (DGF), to discuss religious freedom issues. Embassy and consulate officials met with a wide range of Muslim and religious minority leaders and community representatives, including those of the Greek Orthodox, Armenian Apostolic Orthodox, Jewish, Syriac Orthodox, Protestant, Alevi, Chaldean Catholic, and Baha’i Faith communities. Issues discussed included stresses on shrinking minority populations; lack of legal standing of patriarchates; continued closure of the Eastern Orthodox Halki seminary; social discrimination deriving from geopolitical issues with Israel, Greece, and Armenia; lack of full recognition of Alevis as a religious faith; compulsory religious education; and entrance bans and deportations of Protestant Christians. In September, the Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom and the Special Envoy for Monitoring and Combating Antisemitism met with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan alongside a roundtable of American Jewish leaders in New York City and discussed how governments could work with religious actors to counter antisemitism and anti-Muslim hatred.
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