Turkey: More than half oppose non-Muslim religious meetings
More than half the population of Muslim-majority Turkey opposes members of other religions holding meetings or publishing materials to explain their faith, according to a recently issued survey.
Fifty-nine per cent of those surveyed said non-Muslims either “should not” or “absolutely should not” be allowed to hold open meetings where they can discuss their ideas. Fifty-four per cent said non-Muslims either “should not” or “absolutely should not” be allowed to publish literature that describes their faith.
The survey also found that almost 40% of the population of Turkey said they had “very negative” or “negative” views of Christians. In the random survey, 60% of those polled said there is one true religion; over 90% of the population of Turkey is Sunni Muslim. Ali Çarkoglu, one of two professors at Sabanci University who conducted the study, said no non-Muslim religious gathering in Turkey is completely “risk free”.
“Even in Istanbul, it can’t be easy to be an observant non-Muslim,” Çarkoglu said.
