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  • Protestant Proselytizers Eye 10% of Turks: Report

    Islam Online, UK
    Dec 31 2004

    Protestant Proselytizers Eye 10% of Turks: Report


    Turkey is a pre-dominantly Muslim country.

    CAIRO, December 31 (IslamOnline.net) - Protestant missionaries are
    planning to proselytize some 10 per cent of Turkey's 70 million
    population by 2020, the Turkish army warned in a report published
    Friday, December 31.

    Up to one million gospels are planned to be distributed among the
    Turkish people during this period, Turkish daily Zaman reported
    Friday, citing the `Proselytizing Activities in Turkey and the World'
    report.

    The missionaries are trying to fill the `spiritual void' left by the
    youths' ignorance about the basic tenets and rituals of Islam,
    according to the report.

    The proselytizers are playing on pitting the Sunnis and the
    `Alawiyyin against one another to preach about the Christian faith,
    the report added.

    ``Alawiyyin are originally a sect of the Shi`ah called `Nusayriyyah'.
    The Nusayriyyah is a movement that emerged in the third century after
    Hijrah. They claim that `Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) is
    God-incarnated.

    The Turkish army report further said that the Protestant missionaries
    intend to establish a religious institute to prepare a generation of
    theologians in Turkey.

    It put at 69 the number of unofficial churches and places of worship
    related to other communities, including 47 churches for the
    Protestants, nine for the Baha'is and 13 for Jehovah's Witnesses
    sect.

    The Baha'iyyah is also a Shiite sect that was named after one of its
    leaders, Husayn Nuri. This faith emerged as a Shiite sect that was
    led by some Shiites who totally deviated from Islam.

    The Jehovah's Witnesses (JW) are members of a worldwide Christian
    religion who actively share with others their beliefs about God and
    faith.

    They use the Hebrew name of God, commonly rendered Jehovah in
    English, and embark on visible proselytizing, including personal
    visits to neighbors, and conducting free home Bible study courses,
    according to the Wikipedia encyclopedia.

    Thousands Proselytized

    The report further said that 15,000 Turks have been converted to
    Christianity, and other sects like Baha'iyyah over the past few
    years.

    Of the converters, 185 Muslims have officially changed their religion
    to Christianity over the past three years and only one to Judaism,
    the report added.

    No law explicitly prohibits proselytizing or religious conversions in
    Turkey. Many prosecutors and police, however, regard proselytizing
    and religious activism with suspicion, especially when such
    activities are deemed to have political overtones, according to the
    daily.

    Approximately 99 percent of Turkey's population are Muslim, the
    majority of whom are Sunni.

    In addition to the country's Sunni Muslim majority, there are an
    estimated 5 to 12 million `Alawiyyin, according to the US State
    Department.

    There are several other religious groups, mostly concentrated in
    Istanbul and other large cities.

    While exact membership figures are not available, these include an
    estimated 65,000 Armenian Orthodox Christians, 25,000 Jews, and 3,000
    to 5,000 Greek Orthodox Christians.

    These three groups have special legal minority status under the 1923
    Lausanne Treaty. There also are approximately 10,000 Baha'is, an
    estimated 15,000 Syrian Orthodox (Syriac) Christians, 3,000
    Protestants, and small, undetermined numbers of Bulgarian, Chaldean,
    Nestorian, Georgian, Roman Catholic, and Maronite Christians.
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