Main Religious Influence Factors of Turkey

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3. Main religious influence factors
In this part of the paper we will focus on religion in Turkey, how does Turkey different from other Muslim countries, what are the main factors influencing religion belief today, and how religion influences peoples’ behavior and society as a whole. We will cover question part later in our second report.
Turkey is very interesting country in terms of religious study. Geographically the country situated in Western Asia and partially in South of Europe, but it is considered Eastern Europe country. Geographic location has made a mark in the history of the country politically as well as religiously, there is presence of western influence on Turkey’s society.
Islam plays significant role in Turkey. The majority of population (99 percent) is Muslims (Serif, 2011).
Islam is one of the three world religions and is relatively young religion that originated in the VII century BC in the west of the Arabian Peninsula. The main tenet of Islam - monotheism: "There is no God but Allah, and Mohammed - his prophet”. The word Islam in Arabic means "submission" and Muslim (from the Arabic "muslim") - humble. Islam encourages its supporters to be obedient to God and destiny ordained them (Religion in Turkey, n.d.).
In Turkey as in most democratic countries, there is freedom to choose religion and beliefs. Muslim religion is divided into different subgroups; most Muslims in Turkey are Sunnis (72 percent), and Alevis of the Shia (about 25 percent). The other 3 percent of Muslim population in Turkey are a Twelver Shia community that represents 3percent of the Muslims. According to Zeydan, “The Ottomans had accepted Sunni Islam in the 13th century as a means to unifying their empire” (1995). Alevism as Muslim subdivi...

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...neral, been discriminated against. (Kommersant news, 2013). This step in the country was regarded as a departure from the secular principles of the founder of the Turkish Republic, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. The question we ask what does this law mean for people?
One of the Turkish professors while explaining turkish culture, mentioned that wearing hijab is the choice of woman. Despite the fact that women in Turkey do not have to wear hijab, some of them have to wear it against their will. They do it in order to not to be judged by society, so called "street pressure". Nowadays, Turkish women do not fully have freedom in their actions, cultural pressure does have a strong impact on their behavior. Even though the pressure is strong, many women prefer not to wear hijab. It is the choice of woman whether to be influenced by others or to follow own instinkts and wishes.

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