Is Turkey 99% Muslim? New study answers
Though Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, a conservative Islamist, has remained Turkey’s head of state for almost two decades, contrary to expectations, Turkish society‘s religious credentials have plummeted, and new research on “Turkey’s Religious Perception” has revealed that Turkey is not “a 99% Muslim country” as it is described.
The research, by Hatem Iata and Abdullah Gadej of the Ankara Institute, shows interesting results: They concluded that the phrase “99% Muslim country” does not reflect reality.
According to the research, 5.9% of those in Turkey identify themselves as “Rabbids and Atheists.”
92.3% of respondents identified themselves as Muslim, 3.2% as Rabbians, and 2.7% as atheists.
When looking at the party’s preferences, all AKP and MHP participants and 96% of Good Party members stated that they were Muslim, with 78% of CHP and HDP respondents stating that they were Muslim.
While 10% of CHP participants identified themselves as Rabbids, 7% as Atheists, 9% of HDP participants identified as Rabbids, and 8% as Atheists.
93% of the community stated that they pray and ask God for help when they have a problem, and 86% of the participants stated that they believe in God’s existence, and they have no doubt about it.
Of those who said, “I believe in God, although I have some doubts,” 7% said, “I am not sure of God” 2.5%, and said, “I do not believe in God” 2.5%.
Half of the community declared that they believe that the most important criterion for religion is faith in God, and those who believe that keeping the heart clean and moral is the most important criterion is 29%, and those who believe that performing their prayers to the fullest is the most important criterion is 10%.
While 46% of respondents said they disagreed with the view that “as long as I am moral, it is not important to believe in God,” 37% said they agreed.
76% of the respondents wanted their children to be religious, those who didn’t care whether their children were religious were 12%, and those who didn’t want their children to be religious 9%.
Half of the participants reported that they had learned basic information about religion from their families, that they had learned religious information by looking for themselves 20%, and that they had learned 15% at the mosque.
A study conducted by the Konda Polling Institute, which included 5,793 Turks in 36 regions including cities and villages, showed that the percentage of Turks who describe themselves as “religious” dropped from 54% to 51%, while the percentage of “deeply religious” Turks did not exceed 10%.
Two out of three Turks fast during Ramadan, 77%, and the number of atheists has tripled.
