The U.S. government estimates that Turkey’s population is approximately 82.5 million, of which 99.8 percent is Muslim; an estimated 77.5 percent majority adheres to Sunni Islam. Between 10 million and 25 million people identify as Alevi, a community that the government largely refuses to differentiate from majority Sunni Muslims. The remaining 0.2 percent comprises atheists, Armenian Apostolics, Baha’is, Bulgarian Orthodox, Chaldean Catholics, Greek Orthodox, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Jews, Protestants, Roman Catholics, Russian Orthodox, Syriac Catholics, Syriac Orthodox, Yazidis, and other religious communities. The constitution defines the country as a secular state and guarantees the freedom of conscience, religious belief, and conviction. However, the government also exercises extensive control over both majority Muslim and non-Muslim religious communities through either the Directorate of Religious Affairs (Diyanet), which oversees the practice of Islam, or the General Directorate of Foundations (Vakıflar Genel Müdürlüğü), which regulates other religious communities. The Turkish government has become increasingly repressive since a July 2016 coup attempt, detaining numerous journalists and perceived political opponents, including a reported 292,000 individuals affiliated with—or accused of affiliation with—the U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gülen. Turkey also remained actively engaged in or supported numerous military operations beyond its borders throughout 2020. At the end of the year, members of Turkey’s significant Uyghur diaspora community remained concerned about possible deportation to China, as the Chinese Communist Party pursued the adoption of a bilateral extradition treaty with Turkey. Government Antisemitism and Rhetoric against Minorities Throughout the year, government rhetoric at various levels increasingly targeted religious minorities and nonreligious individuals and promoted a “conquest mentality” that not only ostracized those communities but also risked encouraging hate crimes against them. For example, in November, Diyanet President Ali Erbaş stated during an opening ceremony for a mosque that “all manner of evil can be expected from those who don’t believe in the afterlife,” prompting Turkey’s Atheism Association to open a criminal complaint for “targeting nonbelievers.” In a January speech considered one of the most antisemitic incidents of the year, President Erdoğan lashed out at Muslim majority countries that normalized relations with Israel and celebrated it with “those with kippahs on their heads.” In July, after recent hints and multiple threats to do so, President Erdoğan signed a decree converting the Hagia Sophia back into a mosque after a court revoked the historic site’s status as a museum. During the first Friday prayers held at the former Greek Orthodox cathedral, Diyanet President Erbaş held aloft a sword as a “symbol of conquest” that many decried for the marginalizing message it sent to Turkey’s religious minorities. Politically Motivated Blasphemy Charges Authorities continued to threaten or pursue blasphemy charges under Article 216(3) of the Penal Code, which penalizes “openly insulting the religious values held by a segment of society.” In April, authorities took into custody former editor Hakan Aygün for social media posts in which he used religious wordplay to criticize President Erdoğan’s COVID-19 fundraising campaign; his trial was ongoing at the end of the reporting period. That same month, the Ankara Prosecutor’s Office launched a retaliatory investigation into the Ankara Bar Association for characterizing anti-LGBTI statements by Diyanet President Erbaş as hate speech. Following an incident in May in which hackers played the song “Bella Ciao” from the minarets of mosques in Izmir, local authorities detained a handful of people for “insulting religious values” by sharing and “praising” videos of the episode on social media. Among those detained was former opposition party politician Banu Özdemir, who had tweeted about the incident. During the year, authorities also investigated and prosecuted journalist Enver Aysever for posting online a caricature that mocked religious figures. Key U.S. Policy The United States and Turkey are allies as members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and cooperate on international security concerns. Despite this cooperation, however, several issues continued to plague the bilateral relationship, including U.S. concerns regarding Turkey’s purchase of the Russian S-400 missile system. Such concerns prompted Members of Congress to adopt legislation requiring the imposition of sanctions against Turkey under the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA), and in December, the United States sanctioned Turkey’s Presidency of Defense Industries. The U.S. government regularly raised religious freedom matters in Turkey and frequently engaged with representatives of Turkey’s religious minorities. In July, then Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo urged Turkey to maintain the Hagia Sophia as a museum. Following the government’s decision to convert the site into a mosque, then Vice President Michael R. Pence reiterated a call for it to remain accessible to all. In October, head of the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs Ambassador Phillip T. Reeker traveled to Turkey and met with Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew I. In November, then Secretary Pompeo also visited Turkey to discuss religious freedom; he met Patriarch Bartholomew, toured the Rüstem Paşa Mosque, and discussed regional interfaith peace efforts with Archbishop Paul Fitzpatrick Russell, Apostolic Nuncio to Turkey. After the reporting period, in January 2021, the United States and Turkey signed a bilateral cultural property agreement to curb the looting and trafficking of cultural property. U S C I R F – R E C O M M E N D E D F O R S P E C I A L W AT C H L I S T 83 TURKEY Background