Bahá'í Faith in Turkey
Encyclopedia
The Bahá'í faith bears a strong bond to the nation of Turkey as Bahá'u'lláh
, the founder of the Bahá'í Faith
, was exiled to Constantinople
, current-day Istanbul
, by the Ottoman authorities
during the formative days of the religion. Since the foundation of the Bahá'í Faith in Turkey
the legal standing of the religion has been contested as progressively wider scales of organization of the religion have been attempted by the community. In the new millennium many of the obstacles to the religion remain in place — Bahá'ís cannot register with the government officially but there are probably 10 to 20 thousand Bahá'ís, and around a hundred Bahá'í Local Spiritual Assemblies in Turkey.
, from which Turkey
came about after the empire's fall in the 1920s. The first interaction between the history of the religion and what is present-day Turkey occurred when Mullá 'Alíy-i-Bastámí
, who was a Bábi
— the immediate predecessor religion associated with the Bahá'í Faith
— was arrested in Baghdad for teaching the religion and sent as a prisoner to Istanbul
in 1846. Later, in 1863, when Bahá'u'lláh
, the founder of the religion, was in Baghdad
due to his banishment from Persia, he was further exiled by the Ottoman government from Baghdad to Istanbul. He was later exiled to Edirne
in the western part of Turkey, and ultimately to Acre
in current-day Israel. While in Istanbul and Edirne the followers of the religion started to become known as Bahá'ís, and a significant portion of Bahá'u'lláh's writings were written while he was in current-day Turkey. While much of the writings were written in Arabic or Persian
, the central figures of the Bahá'í Faith have written in Turkish
, though most of the early Bahá'í literature
in Turkish was printed by the large Bahá'í communities in Baku Azerbaijan
and Ashkhabad
.
taught history and Latin at Robert College
in Constantinople in the period 1907–1910 and undertook travels to see `Abdu'l-Bahá. In succeeding years, Cobb wrote several works dealing with Turkey - The Real Turk, ISBN B000NUP6SI, 1914, Ayesha of the Bosphorus, 1915, and Islamic Contributions to Civilization in 1963. Wellesley Tudor Pole
had been pursuing investigations in the Middle East and visited Constantinople where he heard of `Abdu'l-Bahá in 1908 and soon became a Bahá'í. The woman known as Isabella Grinevskaya
moved from Odessa
Ukraine after gaining some notability as a playwright to Constantinople and after meeting `Abdu'l-Bahá on a trip to Egypt became a member of the Bahá'í Faith. In 1913, `Abdu'l-Bahá
, Bahá'u'lláh's son and successor, commented that the religion was spreading into the interior of Turkey. Süleyman Nazif
is a prominent poet and thinker from Turkey at the turn of the 20th century who was challenged to learn more of the religion while in Paris, by the poet Catulle Mendès
. Investigating the religion, including meeting with `Abdu'l-Bahá a number of times and becoming an admirer of Tahirih
, Nazif wrote about various facets of these encounters and history in several books - though they contain errors they can be considered an important alternative source on early views of Bahá'í history. Martha Root
, a Bahá'í teacher, visited Turkey in 1927, 1929, and 1932. Following the rise of Secularism in Turkey
, the Turkish government, around 1928, decided to order the police in the town of Smyrna
to conduct a close investigation into the purpose, the character and the effects of Bahá'í activity in that town. Mentioned in the morning papers the next day, the chairman of the Bahá'í Local Spiritual Assembly of Constantinople travelled to offer the necessary explanations to the authorities concerned but he and the rest of the assembly were all arrested, and Bahá'í literature in their homes was seized. However their books were returned and there was widespread publicity in leading newspapers of Turkey leading to the government lifting the ban on the Bahá'ís.
. Despite the earlier situation where the ban on the religion was removed, further waves of arrests of Bahá'ís spread through Urfa, Adana
and Gaziantep
. In the winter of 1951, the visit to Istanbul of Amelia Collins
, a Bahá'í teacher, was facilitated by Doktoroglu. He made hotel reservations and greeted her at the airport with a large group of Bahá'ís. Several meetings were arranged at which she could meet groups of Bahá'ís and a large banquet was given in her honour. Doktoroglu then went on Bahá'í pilgrimage
and on his return a letter dated 14 December 1951 written on behalf of the head of the religion reached the believers in Istanbul encouraging the friends to establish a Local Spiritual Assembly and to pursue other tasks concerning which he had given instructions to Doktoroglu. In April 1952 the Local Spiritual Assembly of (now renamed) Istanbul was formed with Doktoroglu as one of its members. Years later Doktoroglu was successful in obtaining permission to search the government archives. Among his findings was an indication that Mulla `Aláy-i-Bastámí had in his travels reached the city of Bolu
, east of Istanbul.
, a Hand of the Cause — an individual considered to have achieved a distinguished rank in service to the religion. Among the members of the National Spiritual Assembly was Masáh Farhangí who had previously served on the Bahá'í National Spiritual Assembly of Iran; he had his family had pioneered
from Iran to Turkey around 1959 and both he and his wife were registered as graduate students in a medical college. Even though Farhangí was elected secretary of the body, he was ejected from Turkey at the end of that year.
Repeating the pattern of arrests in the 20's and 30's, in 1959 during Naw Ruz
mass arrests of the Bahá'í local assembly of Ankara
resulted in the religion being accused of being a forbidden Tariqah
, or sect of Islam. The court requested three experts in comparative religion to give their opinion: two of the three experts supported viewing the Bahá'í Faith as an independent religion, and one claimed that it was a sect of Islam. After this report, the court appointed three respected religious scholars to review all aspects of the question and advise the court of their views. All three of these scholars agreed that the religion was independent on January 17, 1961. However the judges chose to disregard these findings and on July 15, 1961 declared that the Bahá'í Faith was a forbidden sect but this decision was appealed to the Turkish Supreme Court.
Starting in 1960 until 1990, however, Bahá'ís could register with the government when the Interior Ministry issued instructions introducing a new standardized code system that did not include the religion, a situation similar to the current Egyptian identification card controversy
.
(UNHCR) in Ankara to request asylum from Iran. UNHCR officials registered their names and informed them of new regulations which require asylum seekers to apply within five days to the police in the city where they entered the country. The asylum seekers were issued documents by the UNHCR indicating their intention for requesting asylum from the local Turkish police. They boarded a chartered bus and arrived in Agri
, the city of their entrance, the next morning. However the group disappeared — with various reports suggesting they were returned to Iranian authorities.
beginning by giving greater freedom to women, promulgating the promotion of female education as a priority concern, and that involvement was given practical expression by creating schools, agricultural coops, and clinics. The religion entered a new phase of activity when a message of the Universal House of Justice
dated 20 October 1983 was released. Bahá'ís were urged to seek out ways, compatible with the Bahá'í teachings
, in which they could become involved in the social and economic development of the communities in which they lived. World-wide in 1979 there were 129 officially recognized Bahá'í socio-economic development projects. By 1987, the number of officially recognized development projects had increased to 1482. However in Turkey things are complicated. Bahá'ís still arrive in Turkey as refugees from the Persecution of Bahá'ís
in Iran. But matters in Turkey are hardly supportive. Despite a 2006 regulation allowing persons to leave the religion section of their identity cards blank or change the religious designation by written application, the government continued to restrict applicants' choice of religion. Despite the regulation, applicants must choose Muslim, Christian, Jew, Hindu, Zoroastrian, Confucian, Taoist, Buddhist, Religionless, Other, or Unknown as their religious affiliation so individuals can't be registered as Bahá'ís. Additionally there are still instances of harassment and property has been confiscated. In February 2001 the Bahá'í community lost a legal appeal against government expropriation of a sacred site near Edirne; the Ministry of Culture had previously granted heritage status to the site in 1993. In January 2001 two Bahá'ís were detained for proselytizing in Sivas while a local imam commenting on the arrest made a public rebuke alluding to those "whose killing is necessary." Still in 2001, two Bahá'í university professors at Sivas' Cumhuriyet University faced expulsion. Native Turkish citizen Fulya Vekiloglu joined the United Nations Office of the Bahá'í International Community
in June 2006 focusing on issues related to the advancement of women and social development. Bahá'ís were represented at a public two-day Global Forum of Faith-based Organizations, convened by the United Nations Population Fund held in Istanbul in 2008. Also in 2008, a Bahá'í was appointed dean of the Science and Letters Faculty of the Middle East Technical University
. The Turkish government supported the declaration of the Presidency of the European Union
when he "denounced" the trial of Iranian Bahá'ís announced in February 2009.
(relying on World Christian Encyclopedia
) estimated some 21,000 Bahá'ís in Turkey - and some 880 in Cyprus. The US State Department estimated the Turkish Cypriot Bahá'í community of approximately 200 in 2008. There are about a hundred local spiritual assemblies in modern Turkey.
Bahá'u'lláh
Bahá'u'lláh , born ' , was the founder of the Bahá'í Faith. He claimed to be the prophetic fulfilment of Bábism, a 19th-century outgrowth of Shí‘ism, but in a broader sense claimed to be a messenger from God referring to the fulfilment of the eschatological expectations of Islam, Christianity, and...
, the founder of the Bahá'í Faith
Bahá'í Faith
The Bahá'í Faith is a monotheistic religion founded by Bahá'u'lláh in 19th-century Persia, emphasizing the spiritual unity of all humankind. There are an estimated five to six million Bahá'ís around the world in more than 200 countries and territories....
, was exiled to Constantinople
Constantinople
Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...
, current-day Istanbul
Istanbul
Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
, by the Ottoman authorities
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
during the formative days of the religion. Since the foundation of the Bahá'í Faith in Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
the legal standing of the religion has been contested as progressively wider scales of organization of the religion have been attempted by the community. In the new millennium many of the obstacles to the religion remain in place — Bahá'ís cannot register with the government officially but there are probably 10 to 20 thousand Bahá'ís, and around a hundred Bahá'í Local Spiritual Assemblies in Turkey.
Early phase
Many of the important geographic areas of the early period of the Bahá'í Faith were historically controlled by the Ottoman EmpireOttoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
, from which Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
came about after the empire's fall in the 1920s. The first interaction between the history of the religion and what is present-day Turkey occurred when Mullá 'Alíy-i-Bastámí
Mullá 'Alíy-i-Bastámí
Mullá 'Alí-i-Bastámí was the fourth Letter of the Living in the Bábí movement. He is also probably the first and one of the best known martyrs of the early Bábí period....
, who was a Bábi
Bábism
The Babi Faith is a religious movement that flourished in Persia from 1844 to 1852, then lingered on in exile in the Ottoman Empire as well as underground. Its founder was Siyyid `Alí Muhammad Shirazi, who took the title Báb—meaning "Gate"—from a Shi'a theological term...
— the immediate predecessor religion associated with the Bahá'í Faith
Bahá'í Faith
The Bahá'í Faith is a monotheistic religion founded by Bahá'u'lláh in 19th-century Persia, emphasizing the spiritual unity of all humankind. There are an estimated five to six million Bahá'ís around the world in more than 200 countries and territories....
— was arrested in Baghdad for teaching the religion and sent as a prisoner to Istanbul
Istanbul
Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
in 1846. Later, in 1863, when Bahá'u'lláh
Bahá'u'lláh
Bahá'u'lláh , born ' , was the founder of the Bahá'í Faith. He claimed to be the prophetic fulfilment of Bábism, a 19th-century outgrowth of Shí‘ism, but in a broader sense claimed to be a messenger from God referring to the fulfilment of the eschatological expectations of Islam, Christianity, and...
, the founder of the religion, was in Baghdad
Baghdad
Baghdad is the capital of Iraq, as well as the coterminous Baghdad Governorate. The population of Baghdad in 2011 is approximately 7,216,040...
due to his banishment from Persia, he was further exiled by the Ottoman government from Baghdad to Istanbul. He was later exiled to Edirne
Edirne
Edirne is a city in Eastern Thrace, the northwestern part of Turkey, close to the borders with Greece and Bulgaria. Edirne served as the capital city of the Ottoman Empire from 1365 to 1453, before Constantinople became the empire's new capital. At present, Edirne is the capital of the Edirne...
in the western part of Turkey, and ultimately to Acre
Acre, Israel
Acre , is a city in the Western Galilee region of northern Israel at the northern extremity of Haifa Bay. Acre is one of the oldest continuously inhabited sites in the country....
in current-day Israel. While in Istanbul and Edirne the followers of the religion started to become known as Bahá'ís, and a significant portion of Bahá'u'lláh's writings were written while he was in current-day Turkey. While much of the writings were written in Arabic or Persian
Persian language
Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...
, the central figures of the Bahá'í Faith have written in Turkish
Turkish language
Turkish is a language spoken as a native language by over 83 million people worldwide, making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Its speakers are located predominantly in Turkey and Northern Cyprus with smaller groups in Iraq, Greece, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo,...
, though most of the early Bahá'í literature
Bahá'í literature
Bahá'í literature, like much religious text, covers a variety of topics and forms, including scripture and inspiration, interpretation, history and biography, introduction and study materials, and apologia...
in Turkish was printed by the large Bahá'í communities in Baku Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan , officially the Republic of Azerbaijan is the largest country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and Iran to...
and Ashkhabad
Bahá'í Faith in Turkmenistan
The Bahá'í Faith in Turkmenistan begins before Russian advances into the region when the area was under the influence of Persia. By 1887 a community of Bahá'í refugees from religious violence in Persia had made a religious center in Ashgabat. Shortly afterwards — by 1894 — Russia made...
.
Developments along Western Turkey
Bahá'ís have lived in the territory of modern Turkey since Bahá'u'lláh's time. Other Bahá'ís have come from other places to be in Constantinople in this period around 1910. After joining the religion in 1906 in the United States Stanwood CobbStanwood Cobb
Stanwood Cobb was an American educator, author and prominent Bahá'í of the 20th century.He was born in Newton, Massachusetts to Darius Cobb - a Civil War soldier, artist and descendent of Elder Henry Cobb of the second voyage of the Mayflower - and Eunice Hale - founding president of the Ladies...
taught history and Latin at Robert College
Robert College
Robert College of Istanbul , is one of the most selective independent private high schools in Turkey. Robert College is a co-educational, boarding school with a wooded campus on the European side of Istanbul between the two bridges on the Bosphorus, with the Arnavutköy district to the east, and...
in Constantinople in the period 1907–1910 and undertook travels to see `Abdu'l-Bahá. In succeeding years, Cobb wrote several works dealing with Turkey - The Real Turk, ISBN B000NUP6SI, 1914, Ayesha of the Bosphorus, 1915, and Islamic Contributions to Civilization in 1963. Wellesley Tudor Pole
Wellesley Tudor Pole
Major Wellesley Tudor Pole O.B.E. was a spiritualist and early British Bahá'í.He authored many pamphlets and books and was a lifelong pursuer of religious and mystical questions and visions, being particularly involved with spiritualism and the Bahá'í Faith as well as the quest for the Holy Grail...
had been pursuing investigations in the Middle East and visited Constantinople where he heard of `Abdu'l-Bahá in 1908 and soon became a Bahá'í. The woman known as Isabella Grinevskaya
Isabella Grinevskaya
Isabella Grinevskaya was the pen name of Berta Friedberg, daughter of the author Abraham Shalom Friedberg and the first wife of Mordechai Spector....
moved from Odessa
Odessa
Odessa or Odesa is the administrative center of the Odessa Oblast located in southern Ukraine. The city is a major seaport located on the northwest shore of the Black Sea and the fourth largest city in Ukraine with a population of 1,029,000 .The predecessor of Odessa, a small Tatar settlement,...
Ukraine after gaining some notability as a playwright to Constantinople and after meeting `Abdu'l-Bahá on a trip to Egypt became a member of the Bahá'í Faith. In 1913, `Abdu'l-Bahá
`Abdu'l-Bahá
‘Abdu’l-Bahá , born ‘Abbás Effendí, was the eldest son of Bahá'u'lláh, the founder of the Bahá'í Faith. In 1892, `Abdu'l-Bahá was appointed in his father's will to be his successor and head of the Bahá'í Faith. `Abdu'l-Bahá was born in Tehran to an aristocratic family of the realm...
, Bahá'u'lláh's son and successor, commented that the religion was spreading into the interior of Turkey. Süleyman Nazif
Süleyman Nazif
Süleyman Nazif was an eminent Ottoman Turkish poet. He mastered Arabic, Persian, and French languages and worked as a civil servant during the reign of Sultan Abdulhamid II...
is a prominent poet and thinker from Turkey at the turn of the 20th century who was challenged to learn more of the religion while in Paris, by the poet Catulle Mendès
Catulle Mendès
Catulle Mendès was a French poet and man of letters.Of Portuguese Jewish extraction, he was born in Bordeaux. He early established himself in Paris and promptly attained notoriety by the publication in the Revue fantaisiste of his Roman d'une nuit, for which he was condemned to a month's...
. Investigating the religion, including meeting with `Abdu'l-Bahá a number of times and becoming an admirer of Tahirih
Táhirih
Táhirih or Qurratu'l-`Ayn are both titles of Fátimih Baraghání , an influential poet and theologian of the Bábí Faith in Iran. Her life, influence and execution made her a key figure of the religion...
, Nazif wrote about various facets of these encounters and history in several books - though they contain errors they can be considered an important alternative source on early views of Bahá'í history. Martha Root
Martha Root
Martha Louise Root was a prominent traveling teacher of the Bahá'í Faith in the late 19th and early 20th century. Shoghi Effendi, the Guardian of the Bahá'í Faith called her "the foremost travel teacher in the first Bahá'í Century", and named her a Hand of the Cause posthumously...
, a Bahá'í teacher, visited Turkey in 1927, 1929, and 1932. Following the rise of Secularism in Turkey
Secularism in Turkey
Secularism in Turkey defines the relationship between religion and state in the country of Turkey. Secularism was first introduced with the 1928 amendment of the Constitution of 1924, which removed the provision declaring that the "Religion of the State is Islam", and with the later reforms of...
, the Turkish government, around 1928, decided to order the police in the town of Smyrna
Smyrna
Smyrna was an ancient city located at a central and strategic point on the Aegean coast of Anatolia. Thanks to its advantageous port conditions, its ease of defence and its good inland connections, Smyrna rose to prominence. The ancient city is located at two sites within modern İzmir, Turkey...
to conduct a close investigation into the purpose, the character and the effects of Bahá'í activity in that town. Mentioned in the morning papers the next day, the chairman of the Bahá'í Local Spiritual Assembly of Constantinople travelled to offer the necessary explanations to the authorities concerned but he and the rest of the assembly were all arrested, and Bahá'í literature in their homes was seized. However their books were returned and there was widespread publicity in leading newspapers of Turkey leading to the government lifting the ban on the Bahá'ís.
Developments spread east
Sometime before 1930, Sami Doktoroglu came in contact with the religion, and became a Bahá'í. He would later become an important member of the religion in Turkey, and as part of the community of BirecikBirecik
Birecik , also formerly known as Bir and during the Crusades as Bile, is a town and district of Şanlıurfa Province of Turkey, on the River Euphrates....
. Despite the earlier situation where the ban on the religion was removed, further waves of arrests of Bahá'ís spread through Urfa, Adana
Adana
Adana is a city in southern Turkey and a major agricultural and commercial center. The city is situated on the Seyhan River, 30 kilometres inland from the Mediterranean, in south-central Anatolia...
and Gaziantep
Gaziantep
Gaziantep , Ottoman Turkish: Ayintab) previously and still informally called Antep; ʻayn tāb is a city in southeast Turkey and amongst the oldest continually inhabited cities in the world. The city is located 185 kilometres northeast of Adana and 127 kilometres by road north of Aleppo, Syria...
. In the winter of 1951, the visit to Istanbul of Amelia Collins
Amelia Collins
Amelia Engelder Collins was a prominent American Bahá'í from the Lutheran family. She became Bahá'í in 1919. She made large donations to several Bahá'í projects in Haifa, Israel, like the building of the Western Pilgrim House, the superstructure of the Shrine of the Báb the International Archives...
, a Bahá'í teacher, was facilitated by Doktoroglu. He made hotel reservations and greeted her at the airport with a large group of Bahá'ís. Several meetings were arranged at which she could meet groups of Bahá'ís and a large banquet was given in her honour. Doktoroglu then went on Bahá'í pilgrimage
Bahá'í pilgrimage
A Bahá'í pilgrimage currently consists of visiting the holy places in Haifa, Akká, and Bahjí at the Bahá'í World Centre in Northwest Israel. Bahá'ís do not have access to other places designated as sites for pilgrimage....
and on his return a letter dated 14 December 1951 written on behalf of the head of the religion reached the believers in Istanbul encouraging the friends to establish a Local Spiritual Assembly and to pursue other tasks concerning which he had given instructions to Doktoroglu. In April 1952 the Local Spiritual Assembly of (now renamed) Istanbul was formed with Doktoroglu as one of its members. Years later Doktoroglu was successful in obtaining permission to search the government archives. Among his findings was an indication that Mulla `Aláy-i-Bastámí had in his travels reached the city of Bolu
Bolu
- Places of interest :The countryside around Bolu offers excellent walking and other outdoor pursuits. There are hotels in the town for visitors. Sights near the town include:* The 14th century mosque, Ulu Camii...
, east of Istanbul.
Further developments and problems
By the late 1950s Bahá'í communities existed across many of the cities and towns Bahá'u'lláh passed through on his passage in Turkey. In 1959 the Bahá'í National Spiritual Assembly of Turkey was formed with the help of `Alí-Akbar Furútan`Alí-Akbar Furútan
`Alí-Akbar Furútan was a prominent Iranian Bahá'í educator and author who was given the rank of Hand of the Cause in 1951....
, a Hand of the Cause — an individual considered to have achieved a distinguished rank in service to the religion. Among the members of the National Spiritual Assembly was Masáh Farhangí who had previously served on the Bahá'í National Spiritual Assembly of Iran; he had his family had pioneered
Pioneering (Bahá'í)
A pioneer is a volunteer Bahá'í who leaves his or her home to journey to another place for the purpose of teaching the Bahá'í Faith. The act of so moving is termed pioneering. Bahá'ís refrain from using the term "missionary"...
from Iran to Turkey around 1959 and both he and his wife were registered as graduate students in a medical college. Even though Farhangí was elected secretary of the body, he was ejected from Turkey at the end of that year.
Repeating the pattern of arrests in the 20's and 30's, in 1959 during Naw Ruz
Bahá'í Naw-Rúz
Naw-Rúz in the Bahá'í Faith is one of nine holy days for adherents of the Bahá'í Faith worldwide and the first day of the Bahá'í calendar occurring on the vernal equinox, around March 21...
mass arrests of the Bahá'í local assembly of Ankara
Ankara
Ankara is the capital of Turkey and the country's second largest city after Istanbul. The city has a mean elevation of , and as of 2010 the metropolitan area in the entire Ankara Province had a population of 4.4 million....
resulted in the religion being accused of being a forbidden Tariqah
Tariqah
A tariqa is an Islamic religious order. In Sufism one starts with Islamic law, the exoteric or mundane practice of Islam and then is initiated onto the mystical path of a tariqa. Through spiritual practices and guidance of a tariqa the aspirant seeks ḥaqīqah - ultimate truth.-Meaning:A tariqa is a...
, or sect of Islam. The court requested three experts in comparative religion to give their opinion: two of the three experts supported viewing the Bahá'í Faith as an independent religion, and one claimed that it was a sect of Islam. After this report, the court appointed three respected religious scholars to review all aspects of the question and advise the court of their views. All three of these scholars agreed that the religion was independent on January 17, 1961. However the judges chose to disregard these findings and on July 15, 1961 declared that the Bahá'í Faith was a forbidden sect but this decision was appealed to the Turkish Supreme Court.
Starting in 1960 until 1990, however, Bahá'ís could register with the government when the Interior Ministry issued instructions introducing a new standardized code system that did not include the religion, a situation similar to the current Egyptian identification card controversy
Egyptian identification card controversy
The Egyptian identification card controversy is a series of events, beginning in the 1990s, that created a de facto state of disenfranchisement for Egyptian Bahá'ís, atheists, agnostics, and other Egyptians who did not identify themselves as Muslim, Christian, or Jewish on government identity...
.
Re-establishment of the National Assembly and further problems
By 1963, there were 12 Bahá'í local assemblies in the country, and the number grew to 22 assemblies by the end of 1973. The National Assembly was able to be reestablished in 1974, and by 1986 there were 50 local assemblies. But turmoil continued when on August 6, 1996, 21 Iranians (8 men, 4 women and 9 children, the youngest of whom is 4 years old), approached the United Nations High Commissioner for RefugeesUnited Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees , also known as The UN Refugee Agency is a United Nations agency mandated to protect and support refugees at the request of a government or the UN itself and assists in their voluntary repatriation, local integration or resettlement to...
(UNHCR) in Ankara to request asylum from Iran. UNHCR officials registered their names and informed them of new regulations which require asylum seekers to apply within five days to the police in the city where they entered the country. The asylum seekers were issued documents by the UNHCR indicating their intention for requesting asylum from the local Turkish police. They boarded a chartered bus and arrived in Agri
Agri
Agri may refer to:* As shorthand or prefix referring to agriculture* Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development * Azerbaijan–Georgia–Romania Interconnector * Ağrı, a city in eastern Turkey* the Agri in southern Italy...
, the city of their entrance, the next morning. However the group disappeared — with various reports suggesting they were returned to Iranian authorities.
Modern community
Since its inception the religion has had involvement in socio-economic developmentSocio-economic development (Bahá'í)
Since its inception the Bahá'í Faith has had involvement in socio-economic development beginning by giving greater freedom to women, promulgating the promotion of female education as a priority concern, and that involvement was given practical expression by creating schools, agricultural coops, and...
beginning by giving greater freedom to women, promulgating the promotion of female education as a priority concern, and that involvement was given practical expression by creating schools, agricultural coops, and clinics. The religion entered a new phase of activity when a message of the Universal House of Justice
Universal House of Justice
The Universal House of Justice is the supreme governing institution of the Bahá'í Faith. It is a legislative institution with the authority to supplement and apply the laws of Bahá'u'lláh, the founder of the Bahá'í Faith, and exercises a judicial function as the highest appellate institution in the...
dated 20 October 1983 was released. Bahá'ís were urged to seek out ways, compatible with the Bahá'í teachings
Bahá'í teachings
The Bahá'í teachings represent a considerable number of theological, social, and spiritual ideas that were established in the Bahá'í Faith by Bahá'u'lláh, the founder of the religion, and clarified by successive leaders including `Abdu'l-Bahá, Bahá'u'lláh's son, and Shoghi Effendi, `Abdu'l-Bahá's...
, in which they could become involved in the social and economic development of the communities in which they lived. World-wide in 1979 there were 129 officially recognized Bahá'í socio-economic development projects. By 1987, the number of officially recognized development projects had increased to 1482. However in Turkey things are complicated. Bahá'ís still arrive in Turkey as refugees from the Persecution of Bahá'ís
Persecution of Bahá'ís
The persecution of Bahá'ís is the religious persecution of Bahá'ís in various countries, especially in Iran, where the Bahá'í Faith originated and the location of one of the largest Bahá'í populations in the world...
in Iran. But matters in Turkey are hardly supportive. Despite a 2006 regulation allowing persons to leave the religion section of their identity cards blank or change the religious designation by written application, the government continued to restrict applicants' choice of religion. Despite the regulation, applicants must choose Muslim, Christian, Jew, Hindu, Zoroastrian, Confucian, Taoist, Buddhist, Religionless, Other, or Unknown as their religious affiliation so individuals can't be registered as Bahá'ís. Additionally there are still instances of harassment and property has been confiscated. In February 2001 the Bahá'í community lost a legal appeal against government expropriation of a sacred site near Edirne; the Ministry of Culture had previously granted heritage status to the site in 1993. In January 2001 two Bahá'ís were detained for proselytizing in Sivas while a local imam commenting on the arrest made a public rebuke alluding to those "whose killing is necessary." Still in 2001, two Bahá'í university professors at Sivas' Cumhuriyet University faced expulsion. Native Turkish citizen Fulya Vekiloglu joined the United Nations Office of the Bahá'í International Community
Bahá'í International Community
The Bahá'í International Community, or the BIC, is an international non-governmental organization representing the members of the Bahá'í Faith; it was first chartered in March 1948 with the United Nations, and currently has affiliates in over 180 countries and territories.The BIC seeks to "promote...
in June 2006 focusing on issues related to the advancement of women and social development. Bahá'ís were represented at a public two-day Global Forum of Faith-based Organizations, convened by the United Nations Population Fund held in Istanbul in 2008. Also in 2008, a Bahá'í was appointed dean of the Science and Letters Faculty of the Middle East Technical University
Middle East Technical University
Middle East Technical University is a public technical university located in Ankara, Turkey...
. The Turkish government supported the declaration of the Presidency of the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
when he "denounced" the trial of Iranian Bahá'ís announced in February 2009.
Demographics
Because the religion is proscribed there can be no official counts of membership. Estimates by others range from 10,000 to 20,000. The Association of Religion Data ArchivesAssociation of religion data archives
The Association of Religion Data Archives is a free source of online information related to American and international religion. Founded as the American Religion Data Archive in 1997, and online since 1998, the archive was initially targeted at researchers interested in American religion...
(relying on World Christian Encyclopedia
World Christian Encyclopedia
World Christian Encyclopedia is a reference work published by Oxford University Press, known for providing membership statistics for major and minor world religions in every country of the world, including historical data and projections of future populations.The first edition, by David B. Barrett,...
) estimated some 21,000 Bahá'ís in Turkey - and some 880 in Cyprus. The US State Department estimated the Turkish Cypriot Bahá'í community of approximately 200 in 2008. There are about a hundred local spiritual assemblies in modern Turkey.
See also
- Bahá'í Faith by countryBahá'í Faith by countryThe Bahá'í Faith is a diverse and widespread religion founded by Bahá'u'lláh in the 19th century in Iran. Bahá'í sources usually estimate the worldwide Bahá'í population to be above 5 million. Most encyclopedias and similar sources estimate between 5 and 6 million Bahá'ís in the world in the early...
- Religion in TurkeyReligion in TurkeyIslam is the largest religion of Turkey. Around 96% percent of the population is registered as Muslim, mostly Sunni; however, a 2007 survey found that about 3% of adults define their relation with religion as "having no religious conviction" or "not believing in religious obligations". The Shia...
- History of TurkeyHistory of TurkeyThe history of the Turks begins with the migration of Oghuz Turks into Anatolia in the context of the larger Turkic expansion, forming the Seljuq Empire in the 11th century. After the Seljuq victory over forces of the Byzantine Empire in 1071 at the Battle of Manzikert, the process was accelerated...
- Bahá'í timelineBahá'í timelineThe following is a basic timeline of the Bábí and Bahá'í religions emphasizing dates that are relatively well known. For a more comprehensive chronology see the references at the bottom.- 1826 :...
External links
- Bahá'í Faith in Turkey official webpage
- Bahá'í Holy Places in Turkey