Christianity in Turkey#Early Christianity

{{main|Early history of Christianity}}

{{further|Christianity in the 1st century|Early centers of Christianity}}

File:Göreme_OpenAir_Museum_Dunkle_Kirche_2_11_2004.jpg on the ceiling of Karanlık Kilise (The Dark Church), Churches of Göreme. The Roman province of Cappadocia was renowned for its cave churches.]]

File:Ephesus_Celsus_Library_Façade.jpg lived in Ephesus, Asia Minor. The early Christian community of Ephesus was one of the seven churches addressed in the Book of Revelation.]]

File:The_Roman_theatre,_built_in_the_2nd_century_AD_under_Hadrian_on_the_ruins_of_an_earlier_theatre,_later_renovated_under_Septimius_Severus,_Hierapolis,_Turkey_(17033895960).jpg lived and was buried in Hierapolis, Turkey]]

File:Rome-Capitole-StatueConstantin.jpg, the founder of Constantinople, was the first Roman Emperor to convert to Christianity.]]

File:Hagia_Sophia_Mars_2013.jpg was built in AD 537 during the reign of Justinian I, Emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire; it was the world's largest building and an engineering marvel of its time.]]

The Christianization of ancient Assyrians and Armenians most likely began around the 1st century AD.{{cite book |author1-last=Bardakçı |author1-first=Mehmet |author2-last=Freyberg-Inan |author2-first=Annette |author2-link=Annette Freyberg-Inan |author3-last=Giesel |author3-first=Christoph |author4-last=Leisse |author4-first=Olaf |year=2017 |chapter=The Ambivalent Situation of Turkey's Armenians: Between Collective Historical Trauma and Psychological Repression, Loyal Citizenship and Minority Status, Social Integration and Discrimination, Assimilation and Self-assertion |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=olQLDgAAQBAJ&pg=PA133 |title=Religious Minorities in Turkey: Alevi, Armenians, and Syriacs and the Struggle to Desecuritize Religious Freedom |location=London and New York |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |pages=133−154 |doi=10.1057/978-1-137-27026-9_5 |isbn=978-1-137-27026-9 |lccn=2016961241}} The spread of Christianity beyond Jerusalem is discussed in the Book of Acts.{{cite journal |location=Oxford and New York |publisher=Oxford University Press |doi=10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199329069.013.0001 |author-last=Teule |author-first=Herman G. B.| title = Christianity in Western Asia| journal = The Oxford Handbook of Christianity in Asia| access-date = 2018-07-25 |year=2014 |url=http://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199329069.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780199329069-e-001 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180605032438/http://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199329069.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780199329069-e-001 |archive-date=June 5, 2018 |url-status=live |df=mdy-all |isbn=9780199329069}}

The Cappadocian Fathers produced some of the earliest hagiographies in the region. In addition to writings about feminine virtue by Gregory of Nyssa and Gregory of Nazianzos; later texts about Nicholas of Sion and Theodore of Sykeon described miracles and rural life.{{Cite journal| doi = 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199252466.013.0082| last = Talbot| first = Alice-Mary| author-link = Alice-Mary Talbot| title = Hagiography| journal = The Oxford Handbook of Byzantine Studies| access-date = 2018-07-25| date = 2008-10-23| url = http://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199252466.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780199252466-e-082| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180602185755/http://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199252466.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780199252466-e-082| archive-date = June 2, 2018| url-status = live| df = mdy-all}}

The historical region of Syria became one of the main centers of miaphisite Christianity, embodied in the Oriental Orthodoxy, which had accepted only the first three ecumenical councils: Nicaea (325), Constantinople (381) and Ephesus (431). Miaphisite Christians were strongly opposed to Chalcedonian Creed that had been established by the Council of Chalcedon in 451. In the 5th and 6th centuries, the Syriac Orthodox Church that originated in Antioch continued to fracture into multiple denominations.{{Cite book| publisher = Rowman & Littlefield| isbn = 978-1-4422-4432-0| last1 = Kurian| first1 = George Thomas| last2 = Lamport| first2 = Mark A.| title = Encyclopedia of Christianity in the United States| date = 2016-11-10| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=73xfDQAAQBAJ| access-date = July 25, 2018| archive-date = January 15, 2023| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230115215621/https://books.google.com/books?id=73xfDQAAQBAJ| url-status = live}} Some Armenian miaphysite Christians sought to reunite with Rome in later centuries, but their efforts were unsuccessful.

Constantinople is generally considered to be the center and the "cradle of Orthodox Christian civilization".{{cite book|title=Christianity: Religions of the World|first=Ken |last=Parry|year= 2009| isbn=9781438106397| page =139|publisher=Infobase Publishing|quote= }}{{cite book|title=The Blackwell Companion to Eastern Christianity

|first=Ken|last=Parry|year= 2010| isbn=9781444333619| page =368|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|quote= }} From the mid-5th century to the early 13th century, Constantinople was the largest and wealthiest city in Europe.Pounds, Norman John Greville. An Historical Geography of Europe, 1500–1840, p. 124. CUP Archive, 1979. {{ISBN|0-521-22379-2}}. The city became famous for its architectural masterpieces, such as Hagia Sophia, the cathedral of the Eastern Orthodox Church, which served as the seat of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, the sacred Imperial Palace where the Emperors lived, the Hippodrome, the Golden Gate of the Land Walls, and opulent aristocratic palaces. The University of Constantinople was founded in the fifth century and contained artistic and literary treasures before it was sacked in 1204 and 1453,Janin (1964), passim including its vast Imperial Library which contained the remnants of the Library of Alexandria and had 100,000 volumes.{{Cite web |title=Preserving The Intellectual Heritage--Preface • CLIR |url=https://www.clir.org/pubs/reports/bellagio/bellag1/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171020090658/https://www.clir.org/pubs/reports/bellagio/bellag1.html |archive-date=2017-10-20 |access-date=2021-06-09 |website=CLIR}} The city was the home of the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople and guardian of Christendom's holiest relics such as the Crown of thorns and the True Cross. During most of its existence, the Byzantine Empire was one of the most powerful economic, cultural, and military forces in Europe.{{Cite book |last1=Laiou |first1=Angeliki E. |author-link=Angeliki Laiou |title=The Byzantine Economy |last2=Morisson |first2=Cécile |publisher=Cambridge University Press |date=2007 |isbn=978-0-521-84978-4 |location=Cambridge, England}}. The imperial role in the affairs of the Church never developed into a fixed, legally defined system.{{Harvnb|Meyendorff|1982|p=13}}. Additionally, due to the decline of Rome and internal dissension in the other Eastern Patriarchates, the Church of Constantinople became, between the 6th and 11th centuries, the richest and most influential centre of Christendom.{{Harvnb|Meyendorff|1982|p=19}}.

The Eastern Orthodox Church split from Rome during the Great Schism of 1054. With the arrival of the crusaders many Orthodox bishops, particularly in Antioch, were replaced by Latin prelates. After the Mongols defeated the Abbasid Caliphate in 1258, the Armenians and Nestorians had decent relations with the conquering Il-khans for a time, but by the end of the 14th-century many Syrian Orthodox and Nestorian churches were destroyed when the Turco-Mongolian ruler Temür raided West Asia.

Two out of the five centers (Patriarchates) of the ancient Pentarchy are in Turkey: Constantinople (Istanbul) and Antioch (Antakya). Antioch was also the place where the followers of Jesus were called "Christians" for the first time in history, as well as being the site of one of the earliest and oldest surviving churches, established by Saint Peter himself. For a thousand years, the Hagia Sophia was the largest church in the world.

Turkey is also home to the Seven Churches of Asia, where the Revelation to John was sent. Apostle John is reputed to have taken Virgin Mary to Ephesus in western Turkey, where she spent the last days of her life in a small house, known as the House of the Virgin Mary, which still survives today and has been recognized as a holy site for pilgrimage by the Catholic and Orthodox churches, as well as being a Muslim shrine. The cave of the Seven Sleepers is also located in Ephesus.

The death of the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste (modern day Sivas) is recorded as 320 AD during a persecution by Emperor Licinius. They are mentioned by Basil, Gregory of Nyssa, Ephrem the Syrian and John Chrysostom.{{Cite book |title=Forty Martyrs of Sebaste – Oxford Reference |access-date=July 24, 2018 |url=http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803095830100 |isbn=9780199596607 |last1=Farmer |first1=David Hugh |date=2011-04-14 |publisher=OUP Oxford |archive-date=April 14, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220414200130/https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803095830100 |url-status=live }}

File:Istanbul asv2021-11 img71 StAnthony of Padua Church.jpg built in Istanbul during Ottoman Empire.]]

File:İstanbul_6019.jpg built in Istanbul during Ottoman Empire.]]

In accordance with the traditional custom of the time, the Ottoman sultan Mehmed II allowed his troops and his entourage three full days of unbridled pillage and looting in the Christian city of Constantinople, capital of the Roman Empire since its foundation by the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great in the 4th century AD, shortly after it was captured in 1453. Once the three days passed, he would then claim its remaining contents for himself.{{Cite book|last=Runciman|first=Steven|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BAzntP0lg58C|title=The Fall of Constantinople 1453|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1965|isbn=978-0-521-39832-9|pages=145–148|language=en|access-date=September 22, 2020|archive-date=January 15, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230115215622/https://books.google.com/books?id=BAzntP0lg58C|url-status=live}}{{Cite book|last=Nicol|first=Donald MacGillivray|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LpBsQgAACAAJ|title=The End of the Byzantine Empire|publisher=Edward Arnold|year=1979|isbn=978-0-7131-6250-9|location=London|pages=88|language=en|author-link=Donald Nicol|access-date=September 22, 2020|archive-date=January 15, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230115215622/https://books.google.com/books?id=LpBsQgAACAAJ|url-status=live}} However, by the end of the first day, he proclaimed that the looting should cease as he felt profound sadness when he toured the looted and enslaved city.{{Cite journal|last=Inalcik|first=Halil|date=1969|title=The Policy of Mehmed II toward the Greek Population of Istanbul and the Byzantine Buildings of the City|url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/1291293|journal=Dumbarton Oaks Papers|volume=23/24|pages=229–249|doi=10.2307/1291293|jstor=1291293|issn=0070-7546|access-date=July 26, 2020|archive-date=October 17, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211017002337/https://www.jstor.org/stable/1291293|url-status=live}} The cathedral of Hagia Sophia was not exempted from the pillage and looting and specifically became its focal point, as the Ottoman Turks believed it to contain the greatest treasures and valuables of the city.Nicol. The End of the Byzantine Empire, p. 90. Shortly after the defence of the Walls of Constantinople, the city collapsed and the Ottoman troops entered victoriously; the pillagers and looters made their way to the Hagia Sophia and battered down its doors before storming in.{{Cite book|last=Runciman|first=Steven|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BAzntP0lg58C|title=The Fall of Constantinople 1453|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1965|isbn=978-0-521-39832-9|pages=147|language=en|access-date=September 22, 2020|archive-date=January 15, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230115215622/https://books.google.com/books?id=BAzntP0lg58C|url-status=live}}

Throughout the period of the siege of Constantinople, the trapped Christian worshippers of the city participated in the Divine Liturgy and the Prayer of the Hours at the Hagia Sophia and the church formed a safe-haven and a refuge for many of those who were unable to contribute to the city's defence, which comprised women, children, elderly, the sick, and the wounded.Runciman. The Fall of Constantinople, pp. 133–34.Nicol, Donald M. The Last Centuries of Byzantium 1261–1453. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1972, p. 389. Being trapped in the church, the many congregants and yet more refugees inside became spoils-of-war to be divided amongst the Ottoman invaders. The building was desecrated and looted, with the helpless occupants who sought shelter within the church being enslaved. While most of the elderly, the infirm/wounded, and sick were killed, and the remainder (mainly teenage males and young boys) were chained up and sold into slavery.

The women of Constantinople also suffered from rape and sexual violence at the hands of Ottoman forces.{{Cite magazine |last=Smith |first=Cyril J. |year=1974 |title=History of Rape and Rape Laws |url=https://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/wolj60&div=31&id=&page= |magazine=Women Law Journal |issue=60 |page=188 |access-date=12 October 2020 |archive-date=26 April 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200426103547/https://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals%2Fwolj60&div=31&id=&page= |url-status=live }} According to historian Barbaro, "all through the day the Turks made a great slaughter of Christians through the city". According to historian Philip Mansel, widespread persecution of the city's civilian inhabitants took place, resulting in thousands of murders and rapes, and 30,000 civilians being enslaved or forcibly deported.{{cite news |last1=Mansel |first1=Philip |title=Constantinople: City of the World's Desire 1453–1924 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/longterm/books/chap1/constantinople.htm |newspaper=Washington Post |access-date=7 August 2020 |archive-date=24 July 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190724153239/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/longterm/books/chap1/constantinople.htm |url-status=live }}{{cite book|author=Roger Crowley|title=Constantinople: The Last Great Siege, 1453|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ftOp1cR7VK8C&pg=PT226|date=6 August 2009|publisher=Faber & Faber|isbn=978-0-571-25079-0|page=226|quote=The vast majority of the ordinary citizens - about 30,000 - were marched off to the slave markets of Edirne, Bursa and Ankara.}}{{cite book|author=M.J Akbar|title=The Shade of Swords: Jihad and the Conflict Between Islam and Christianity|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d_iBAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA86|date=3 May 2002|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-134-45259-0|page=86|quote=Some 30,000 Christians were either enslaved or sold.|access-date=6 August 2020|archive-date=12 October 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201012040247/https://books.google.com/books?id=d_iBAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA86|url-status=live}}{{cite book|author=Jim Bradbury|title=The Medieval Siege|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xVCRpsfwkiUC&pg=PA322|year=1992|publisher=Boydell & Brewer|isbn=978-0-85115-312-4|page=322|access-date=May 4, 2021|archive-date=January 15, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230115215624/https://books.google.com/books?id=xVCRpsfwkiUC&pg=PA322|url-status=live}} George Sphrantzes says that people of both sexes were raped inside the church of Hagia Sophia.

File:Letter of Suleyman II to Francis I of France regarding the protection of Christians in his states September 1528.jpg to Francis I of France regarding the protection of Christians in his states. September 1528. Archives Nationales, Paris, France.]]

The first capitulation concluded between the Ottoman Empire and a foreign state was that of 1535, granted to the Kingdom of France.{{EB1911|inline=y|wstitle=Capitulations|volume=5|pages=283–284|date=1911b}} The Ottoman Empire was then at the height its power, and the French king Francis I had shortly before sustained a disastrous defeat at the Battle of Pavia. His only hope of assistance lay in the Ottoman sultan Suleiman I. The appeal to Suleiman on the ground of the common interest of the Kingdom of France and the Ottoman Empire in overcoming the power of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V overweening power was successful; thus was established the Franco-Ottoman alliance, and in 1536 the capitulations were signed. They amounted to a treaty of commerce and a treaty allowing the establishment of Christian Frenchmen in Ottoman Turkey and fixing the jurisdiction to be exercised over them: individual and religious liberty was guaranteed to them, the King of France was empowered to appoint consuls in Ottoman Turkey, the consuls were recognized as competent to judge the civil and criminal affairs of French subjects in Ottoman Turkey according to French law, and the consuls may appeal to the officers of the sultan for their aid in the execution of their sentences. This, the first of the capitulations, can be seen as the prototype of its successors.

Anglican, American Presbyterian, and German Lutheran missionaries arrived in the Ottoman Empire in the 19th century. During the same period, there were nationalistic campaigns against Assyrians which often had the assistance of Kurdish paramilitary support. In 1915, Turks and Kurds massacred tens of thousands Assyrians in Siirt. Assyrians were attacked in the Hakkari mountains by the Turkish army with the help of Kurdish tribes, and many Christians were deported and about a quarter million Assyrians were murdered or died due to persecution. This number doubles if the killings during the 1890s are included.Hannibal Travis, "The Assyrian Genocide, a Tale of Oblivion and Denial," Forgotten Genocides, Oblivion, Denial, and Memory, ed. René Lemarchand (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2011)."; and https://etd.ohiolink.edu/!etd.send_file?accession=akron1464911392&disposition=inline {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170105054629/https://etd.ohiolink.edu/!etd.send_file?accession=akron1464911392&disposition=inline |date=January 5, 2017 }} "The Simele Massacre as a Cause of Iraqi Nationalism: How an Assyrian Genocide Created Iraqi Martial Nationalism" Kurds saw the Assyrians as dangerous foreigners and enforcers of the British colonizers, which made it justifiable to them to commit ethnic cleansing. The Kurds fought the Assyrians also due to fears that the Armenians, or European colonial powers backing them, would assume control in Anatolia.Klein, The Margins of Empire, and https://etd.ohiolink.edu/!etd.send_file?accession=akron1464911392&disposition=inline {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170105054629/https://etd.ohiolink.edu/!etd.send_file?accession=akron1464911392&disposition=inline |date=January 5, 2017 }} "The Simele Massacre as a Cause of Iraqi Nationalism: How an Assyrian Genocide Created Iraqi Martial Nationalism" Kurdish military plundered Armenian and other Christian villages.

In the 1890s the Hamidiye (Kurdish paramilitary units) attacked Armenians in a series of clashes that culminated in the Hamidian massacres of 1894-1896 and the Adana massacre in 1909. It is estimated that between 80,000 and 300,000 Armenians were killed during these pre-War massacres.The Hamidiye frequently attacked Christian Armenians. Alan Palmer: Verfall und Untergang des Osmanischen Reiches. Heyne, München 1994, {{ISBN|3-453-11768-9}}. (engl. Original: London 1992). The Hamidiye also played an infamous role in the massacres against Armenians in 1894–96. Martin van Bruinessen: Agha, Scheich und Staat – Politik und Gesellschaft Kurdistans. Ed. Parabolis, Berlin 2003, {{ISBN|3-88402-259-8}}. Martin van Bruinessen: Agha, Shaikh and state.After Armenians revolted against an oppressing tax system that favoured the Kurds, the Hamidiye suppressed the revolts with massacres, which the British blamed on the Ottoman regime (even though the initiative came from local militia). (SeS) Stanford J. Shaw, Ezel Kural Shaw: History of the Ottoman Empire and Modern Turkey. Volume 2: Reform, Revolution, and Republic: The Rise of Modern Turkey 1808–1975. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge u. a. 1977. Alan Palmer: Verfall und Untergang des Osmanischen Reiches. Heyne, München 1994, {{ISBN|3-453-11768-9}}. (engl. Original: London 1992)In 1895, "the massacres of the Assyrians, genocidal by nature were continuing"... where mass slaughters reached unprecedented levels. "The Assyrian villages and towns were sacked by organized mobs or by Kurdish bands. Tens of thousands were driven from their homes. About 100 thousand Assyrian population of 245 villages forcibly converted to Islam. Their property was plundered. Thousands of Assyrian women and girls were forced into Turkish and Kurdish harems. The massacres were perpetrated as barbarously as possible." [http://www.aina.org/articles/agpcgoe.pdf] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181008215528/http://www.aina.org/articles/agpcgoe.pdf|date=October 8, 2018}} Sargizov Lev, Druzhba idushchaya iz glubini vekov (Assiriytsi v Armenii) [A Friendship Coming from the Ancient Times (The Assyrians in Armenia)] (Atra, # 4, St. Petersburg, 1992, 71). Into the 19th century, the Christians of Istanbul tended to be either Greek Orthodox, members of the Armenian Apostolic Church or Catholic Levantines.{{harvnb|Çelik|1993|p=38}}

{{Main|Late Ottoman genocides|Armenian genocide|Assyrian genocide|Greek genocide|Great Famine of Mount Lebanon|Dersim Massacre}}

File:Morgenthau336.jpg wrote, "Scenes like this were common all over the Armenian provinces, in the spring and summer months of 1915. Death in its several forms—massacre, starvation, exhaustion—destroyed the larger part of the refugees. The Turkish policy was that of extermination under the guise of deportation".{{cite book | last = Morgenthau | first = Henry | year = 1918 | title = Ambassador Morgenthau's Story | place = Garden City, NY| publisher = Doubleday | url = https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_ENsLAAAAYAAJ}}]]

File:Kharput Greek-Orthodox refugees - C.D.Morris - National Geographic, Nov. 1925.jpg Christians in 1922, fleeing their homes from Kharput to Trebizond. In the 1910s and 1920s the Armenian, Greek, and Assyrian genocides were perpetrated by the Ottoman Empire and its successor state, the Republic of Turkey.{{refn|}}]]

During the tumultuous period of the First World War, up to 3 million indigenous Christians are alleged to have been killed. Prior to this time, the Christian population stood at around 20% -25% of the total. According to professor Martin van Bruinessen, relations between Christians and Kurdish and other Muslim peoples were often bitter and during World War I "Christians of Tur Abdin (in Turkey) for instance have been subjected to brutal treatment by Kurdish tribes, who took their land and even their daughters".{{Cite web |url=http://www.hum.uu.nl/medewerkers/m.vanbruinessen/publications/Bruinessen_Religion_in_Kurdistan.pdf |title=Religion in Kurdistan |access-date=July 7, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131109073537/http://www.hum.uu.nl/medewerkers/m.vanbruinessen/publications/Bruinessen_Religion_in_Kurdistan.pdf |archive-date=November 9, 2013 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all }}

Kurdish-dominated Hamidiye slaughtered Christian Armenians in Tur Abdin region in 1915.The Armenian Genocide: Cultural and Ethical Legacies, Richard G. Hovannisian, Transaction Publishers It is estimated that ten thousand Assyrians were killed, and reportedly "the skulls of small children were smashed with rocks, the bodies of girls and women who resisted rape were chopped into pieces live, men were mostly beheaded, and the clergy skinned or burnt alive...." In 1915, Turks and Kurds plundered the Assyrian village of Mar-Zaya in Jelu and slaughtered the population, it is estimated that 7,000 Assyrians were slaughtered during this period. In September 1914 more than 30 Armenian and Assyrian villages were burnt by Kurdish and Turkish mobs in the Urmia region. After the Russian army retreated, Turkish troops with Kurdish detachments organized mass slaughters of Assyrians, in the Assyrian village of Haftvan 750 men were beheaded and 5,000 Assyrian women were taken to Kurdish harems. Turks and Kurds also slaughtered Christians in Diarbekir. There was a policy during the Hamidian era to use Kurdish tribes as irregulars (Hamidiye units) against the Armenians.In 1915, large numbers of Armenians were massacred by Kurdish militia and Turkish soldiers. Martin van Bruinessen: Agha, Shaikh and state, page 25, 271On October 3, 1914, Russian vice–Consul in Urmia Vedenski visited Assyrian villages which were already ruined by Kurds and Turks. He wrote: "The consequences of jihad are everywhere. In one village I saw burnt corpses of Assyrians with big sharp stakes in their bellies. The Assyrian houses are burnt and destroyed. The fire is still burning in the neighboring villages". [http://www.aina.org/articles/agpcgoe.pdf] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181008215528/http://www.aina.org/articles/agpcgoe.pdf|date=October 8, 2018}} Sargizov Lev, Assiriytsi stran Blizhnego i Srednego Vostoka [The Assyrians of the Near and Middle East] (Yerevan, 1979), p. 25–26. The retreat of the Russian army from Urmia in January 1915 had tragic consequences for Assyrians. Turkish troops along with Kurdish detachments organized mass slaughter of the Assyrian population. Only 25,000 people managed to escape death. [http://www.aina.org/articles/agpcgoe.pdf] Yohannan Abraham, The Death of a Nation (New York and London: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1916), p. 120.Reports reaching Washington indicate that "about 500,000 Armenians have been slaughtered or lost their lives... During the exodus of Armenians across the deserts they have been fallen upon by Kurds and slaughtered, but some of the Armenian women and girls, in considerable numbers, have been carried off into captivity by the Kurds. [http://www.armenian-genocide.org/9-24-15-text.html] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180913114638/http://www.armenian-genocide.org/9-24-15-text.html|date=September 13, 2018}} The New York Times (September 24, 1915)

The Greek forces who occupied Smyrna in the post-war period were defeated in the Turkish War of Independence which ended with the signing of the Treaty of Lausanne. Under the terms of the peace treaty, 1.3 million Christian residents of Turkey were relocated to Greece and around 400,000 Muslims were likewise moved from Greece to Turkey. When the Turkish state was founded in 1923 the remaining Greek population was estimated to be around 111,000; the Greek Orthodox communities in Istanbul, Gökçeada, and Bozcaada numbering 270,000 were exempted. Other terms of the treaty included various provisions to protect the rights of religious minorities and a concession by the Turks to allow the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate to remain in Istanbul.{{Cite book| publisher = University of Pennsylvania Press| isbn = 978-0-8122-0114-7| last = Arat| first = Zehra F. Kabasakal| title = Human Rights in Turkey| date = 2011-01-01| chapter = 4. The Human Rights Condition of the Orthodox Rum| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=AWIUBAAAQBAJ| access-date = July 25, 2018| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180725103713/https://books.google.com/books?id=AWIUBAAAQBAJ| archive-date = July 25, 2018| url-status = live| df = mdy-all}}

{{main|Late Ottoman genocides|Persecution of Eastern Orthodox Christians|Population exchange between Greece and Turkey}}

{{further|Christianity in the Ottoman Empire|Armenian genocide|Assyrian genocide|Greek genocide|Istanbul pogrom}}

Image:Church_of_St._George,_Istanbul_(August_2010).jpg is the epicenter of the Eastern Orthodox Church and Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, home to the spiritual leader of 300 million Eastern Orthodox Christians worldwide.]]

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) reported in 2014 that the Christian population of Turkey had declined from 20% to 0.2% since 1914.{{cite news |title=Turkey's declining Christianity |work=BBC News |access-date=July 24, 2018 |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-europe-30241181/turkey-s-declining-christian-population |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180725103713/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-europe-30241181/turkey-s-declining-christian-population |archive-date=July 25, 2018 |url-status=live |df=mdy-all }}

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) designated Turkey a "Country of Particular Concern" for religious freedom, noting "systematic limitations on the freedom of religion or belief" with respect to access to places of worship, religious education, and right to train clergy. The report does note some areas of improvement such as better protection of the property rights of Non-Muslims.{{Cite news |title=Turkey, key U.S. ally, cited for religious freedom woes |newspaper=Washington Post |access-date=July 24, 2018 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/on-faith/turkey-key-us-ally-cited-for-religious-freedom-woes/2012/03/20/gIQA13W9PS_story.html |archive-date=July 25, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180725033558/https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/on-faith/turkey-key-us-ally-cited-for-religious-freedom-woes/2012/03/20/gIQA13W9PS_story.html |url-status=live}}

In the pre-war period, Protestant Christian missionaries from North America had been actively involved in the Ottoman education system. Many of the schools were closed down and suffered under stringent regulations and burdensome taxes during the secularization of Turkey. Historically, these schools had worked with the Christian communities in the Ottoman Empire, and were regarded with suspicion by the fledgling republic.{{cite book |author-last=Trask |author-first=Roger R. |title=The United States Response to Turkish Nationalism and Reform, 1914–1939 |date=October 1, 2013 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4sXIoAEACAAJ |chapter="Unnamed Christianity": The American Educational Effort |location=Minneapolis, Minnesota |publisher=University of Minnesota Press |isbn=978-1-299-94386-5 |access-date=July 24, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180725103713/https://books.google.com/books?id=4sXIoAEACAAJ |archive-date=July 25, 2018 |url-status=live |df=mdy-all}}

In 2001, Turkey's National Security Council (MGK) reported that it considers Protestant Christian missionaries the third largest threat to Turkey's national security, surpassed only by Islamic fundamentalism and the Kurdish separatist organization Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). A 2004 report by the Turkish Armed Forces (TAF) similarly recommended implementing new laws to curb Christian missionary activities in the country. According to the Turkish Evangelical Churches movement, Turkish Protestant churches had only 3,000 members in 2009—about half of these were former Muslim converts to Christianity, while the others were Christian converts from Armenian Orthodox and Syriac Christian churches.{{cite journal |author-last=Özyürek |author-first=Esra |date=January 2009 |title=Convert Alert: German Muslims and Turkish Christians as Threats to Security in the New Europe |journal=Comparative Studies in Society and History |publisher=Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Society for Comparative Study of Society and History |volume=51 |issue=1 |pages=91–116 |doi=10.1017/S001041750900005X |issn=1475-2999 |s2cid=145237055}} Since Turkish nationality was often perceived exclusively as a Muslim identity after the Balkan Wars, the influence of Protestant Christian missionaries on Turkey's Alevi population has been a concern since the era of Committee of Union and Progress rule.{{cite book |author-last=Tambar |author-first=Kabir |year=2014 |chapter=3. Anatolian Modern |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bcjdAgAAQBAJ |title=The Reckoning of Pluralism: Political Belonging and the Demands of History in Turkey |location=Redwood City, California |publisher=Stanford University Press |isbn=978-0-8047-9118-2 |access-date=July 25, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180725103713/https://books.google.com/books?id=bcjdAgAAQBAJ |archive-date=July 25, 2018 |url-status=live |df=mdy-all}} In 2016, the Association of Protestant Churches in Turkey released a report warning of an increase in anti-Christian hate speech.{{Cite web| title = Christians in Turkey subjected to rising hate speech: Protestant Church report| work = Hürriyet Daily News| date = February 2017| access-date = 2018-07-25| url = http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/christians-in-turkey-subjected-to-rising-hate-speech-protestant-church-report--109235| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20171129194114/http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/christians-in-turkey-subjected-to-rising-hate-speech-protestant-church-report--109235| archive-date = November 29, 2017| url-status = live| df = mdy-all}}

Historically, the Christian population of Turkey has been largely peaceful and non-disruptive, with the notable exception of one former Muslim convert to Christianity who hijacked the Turkish Airlines Flight 1476 in 2006 with the stated intent of flying it to the Vatican to meet the Pope and ask for his help to avoid serving in the Turkish Armed Forces, which he referred to as a "Muslim army".{{Cite web |title=Turkish Christian convert hijacked plane to meet Pope |work=The Sydney Morning Herald |access-date=July 24, 2018 |date=October 5, 2006 |url=https://www.smh.com.au/world/turkish-christian-convert-hijacked-plane-to-meet-pope-20061005-gdoj2u.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180725103713/https://www.smh.com.au/world/turkish-christian-convert-hijacked-plane-to-meet-pope-20061005-gdoj2u.html |archive-date=July 25, 2018 |url-status=live |df=mdy-all }}

In 2013, the Washington Post reported that members of the ruling Justice and Development Party had expressed their desires to convert Hagia Sophia into a mosque. Hagia Sophia, which is called ayasofya in Turkish, is an ancient Christian church dating to 360 AD that was converted into a mosque after Mehmed II invaded Constantinople in 1453. It has been a museum since 1935. Patriarch Bartholomew objected to the government's rhetoric, saying "If it is to reopen as a house of worship, then it should open as a Christian church."{{Cite news |title=Turkish leaders want to convert the Hagia Sophia back into a mosque |newspaper=Washington Post |access-date=July 24, 2018 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/on-faith/turkish-leaders-want-to-convert-the-hagia-sophia-back-into-a-mosque/2013/12/04/0d84411e-5d27-11e3-8d24-31c016b976b2_story.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180316010037/https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/on-faith/turkish-leaders-want-to-convert-the-hagia-sophia-back-into-a-mosque/2013/12/04/0d84411e-5d27-11e3-8d24-31c016b976b2_story.html |archive-date=March 16, 2018 |url-status=live |df=mdy-all }} Also in 2013, the government announced that the 5th-century Monastery of Stoudios, located in Istanbul's Samatya neighborhood, would be converted into a mosque. The monastery, one of Byzantium's most important, was sacked during the Crusades and later served as a mosque for a time, until it was converted to a museum during the 20th century.{{Cite web |title=Some Turkish Churches Get Makeovers — As Mosques |work=NPR.org |access-date=July 24, 2018 |url=https://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2013/12/03/248355379/some-turkish-churches-get-makeovers-as-mosques |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161206024318/http://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2013/12/03/248355379/some-turkish-churches-get-makeovers-as-mosques |archive-date=December 6, 2016 |url-status=live |df=mdy-all }}{{Cite web |title=Bizans'ın en büyük manastırı cami oluyor |work=Radikal |access-date=July 24, 2018 |url=http://www.radikal.com.tr/turkiye/bizansin_en_buyuk_manastiri_cami_oluyor-1162327/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131125010348/http://www.radikal.com.tr/turkiye/bizansin_en_buyuk_manastiri_cami_oluyor-1162327 |archive-date=November 25, 2013 |url-status=live |df=mdy-all }}{{Cite book |publisher=CRC Press |isbn=978-1-315-88749-4 |last1=Bilotta |first1=Emilio |last2=Flora |first2=Alessandro |last3=Lirer |first3=Stefania |last4=Viggiani |first4=Carlo |title=Geotechnical Engineering for the Preservation of Monuments and Historic Sites |date=May 10, 2013 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z-HKBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA52 |access-date=July 24, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180725103713/https://books.google.com/books?id=Z-HKBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA52 |archive-date=July 25, 2018 |url-status=live |df=mdy-all }}

Today, the Christian population of Turkey is estimated at 203,500–370,000 Christians.[https://web.archive.org/web/20100501063653/http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=161291 Foreign Ministry: 89,000 minorities live in Turkey] 35,000 Catholics of varying ethnicities, 25,000 ethnic "Assyrians" ({{langx|tr|Süryaniler}}), (mostly followers of the Syriac Orthodox Church, Syriac Catholic Church, the Church of the East, and the Chaldean Catholic Church),{{cite web |url=http://www.refworld.org/docid/49749c9837.html |title=World Directory of Minorities and Indigenous Peoples – Turkey : Assyrians |publisher=Refworld |access-date=August 11, 2015 |archive-date=May 3, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190503103556/https://www.refworld.org/docid/49749c9837.html |url-status=live }} 3,000–4,000 Greek Orthodox, 15,000–18,000 Antiochian Greeks{{cite web |url=http://www.bpb.de/publikationen/R1HJSB,2,0,Christen_in_der_islamischen_Welt.html |title=Christen in der islamischen Welt | bpb |publisher=Bpb.de |date=December 6, 2008 |access-date=August 11, 2015 |language=de |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151206103623/http://www.bpb.de/publikationen/R1HJSB,2,0,Christen_in_der_islamischen_Welt.html |archive-date=December 6, 2015 |url-status=live}} and smaller numbers of Bulgarians, Georgians, and Protestant Christians of various ethnicities. Moreover, there is an ethnic Turkish Protestant Christian community in Turkey which number about 7,000–8,000 adherents;{{cite journal |last1=Johnstone |first1=Patrick |last2=Miller |first2=Duane Alexander |title=Believers in Christ from a Muslim Background: A Global Census |journal=Interdisciplinary Journal of Research on Religion |date=2015 |volume=11 |page=17 |url=https://www.academia.edu/16338087 |access-date=October 20, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151126054917/https://www.academia.edu/16338087/Believers_in_Christ_from_a_Muslim_Background_A_Global_Census |archive-date=November 26, 2015 |url-status=live |df=mdy-all }}{{cite web |url=http://www.iirf.eu/index.php?id=178&no_cache=1&tx_ttnews[backPid]=176&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=1295 |title=International Institute for Religious Freedom: Single Post |publisher=Iirf.eu |access-date=August 11, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150708144805/http://www.iirf.eu/index.php?id=178&no_cache=1&tx_ttnews[backPid& |archive-date=July 8, 2015 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all }} most of these Christian converts are from Turkish–Muslim background.{{cite web |author=Jonathan Luxmoore |url=http://www.christiancentury.org/article/2011-03/turkish-protestants-still-face-long-path-religious-freedom |title=Turkish Protestants still face "long path" to religious freedom |publisher=The Christian Century |date=March 4, 2011 |access-date=August 11, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150911235018/http://www.christiancentury.org/article/2011-03/turkish-protestants-still-face-long-path-religious-freedom |archive-date=September 11, 2015 |url-status=live |df=mdy-all }}{{cite web |url=http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/default.aspx?pageid=438&n=christians-in-east-remain-worried-despite-church-opening-2011-07-20 |title=TURKEY – Christians in eastern Turkey worried despite church opening |publisher=Hurriyetdailynews.com |date=July 20, 2011 |access-date=August 11, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150911035205/http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/default.aspx?pageid=438&n=christians-in-east-remain-worried-despite-church-opening-2011-07-20 |archive-date=September 11, 2015 |url-status=live |df=mdy-all }}{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6gajAgAAQBAJ&q=turkish+protestant+muslim&pg=PA93 |title=Muslim Nationalism and the New Turks – Jenny White |date=April 27, 2014 |access-date=August 11, 2015 |isbn=9781400851256 |last1=White |first1=Jenny |location=Princeton, Massachusetts |publisher=Princeton University Press |archive-date=January 15, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230115220651/https://books.google.com/books?id=6gajAgAAQBAJ&q=turkish+protestant+muslim&pg=PA93 |url-status=live }} In 2003, the mainstream Turkish newspaper Milliyet reported that 35,000 Turkish former Muslims had converted to Christianity.{{cite web|url=https://archive.macleans.ca/article/2006/12/4/fearing-a-new-holy-empire|title=Fearing a new holy empire: Just when Turks are worried about Christians, here comes the Pope|date=4 December 2006|publisher=Maclean's|quote=More tangibly, figures published in January 2004 in Turkey's mainstream Milliyet newspaper claimed that 35,000 Muslims, the vast majority of them in Istanbul, had converted to Christianity in 2003. While impossible to confirm (the Turkish government does not release these figures), the rate of conversion, according to Christian leaders in Turkey, is on the rise.|access-date=May 25, 2022|archive-date=July 19, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210719121102/https://archive.macleans.ca/article/2006/12/4/fearing-a-new-holy-empire|url-status=live}} According to Bekir Bozdağ, Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey, there were 349 active churches in Turkey in October 2012: 140 Greek, 58 Assyrian, and 52 Armenian.{{Cite news|url=http://siyaset.milliyet.com.tr/bozdag-turkiye-de-349-kilise-var/siyaset/siyasetdetay/01.10.2012/1604770/default.htm |title=Bozdağ: Türkiye'de 349 kilise var |date=1 October 2012 |publisher=Milliyet |access-date=June 24, 2013 |language=tr |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131225051707/http://siyaset.milliyet.com.tr/bozdag-turkiye-de-349-kilise-var/siyaset/siyasetdetay/01.10.2012/1604770/default.htm |archive-date=December 25, 2013 |url-status=live |df=mdy-all|doi=}} In 2015, the Turkish government gave permission for the Christian channel SAT-7 to broadcast on the government-regulated Türksat satellite.{{Cite web| title = SAT-7 TÜRK| date = June 21, 2016| access-date = 2018-07-25| url = http://sat7.org/our-channels/channel-overview/sat-7-turk| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180101181625/http://sat7.org/our-channels/channel-overview/sat-7-turk| archive-date = January 1, 2018| url-status = live| df = mdy-all}}

Since the establishment of the modern Republic of Turkey in 1923, a number of high-profile incidents targeting Non-Muslims, including Christians, have occurred. This includes the Istanbul pogrom of 1955, where non-Muslims were attacked and killed, as well as more recent attacks, such as the assassination of prominent Turkish–Armenian journalist Hrant Dink in 2007, the torture and murder of one German Protestant and two Turkish converts to Christianity in what Turkish media dubbed "the missionary massacres" in the same year,{{Cite news |last=King |first=Laura |date=April 19, 2007 |title=3 men slain at Bible publishing firm in Turkey |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2007-apr-19-fg-christians19-story.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121009171839/http://articles.latimes.com/2007/apr/19/world/fg-christians19 |archive-date=October 9, 2012 |access-date=July 24, 2018 |work=Los Angeles Times |issn=0458-3035 |df=mdy-all}}{{Cite news |last=Großbongardt |first=Annette |date=April 23, 2007 |title=After the Missionary Massacre: Christian Converts Live In Fear in Intolerant Turkey |url=http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/after-the-missionary-massacre-christian-converts-live-in-fear-in-intolerant-turkey-a-478955.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160401031042/http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/after-the-missionary-massacre-christian-converts-live-in-fear-in-intolerant-turkey-a-478955.html |archive-date=April 1, 2016 |access-date=July 24, 2018 |work=Spiegel Online |df=mdy-all}} and the killings of Italian Catholic priests, including Andrea Santoro, in 2006 and 2007. In January 2024, two gunmen fatally shot a man during a church service in Istanbul in an attack claimed by the Islamic State (Daesh).{{Cite news |last1=Timur |first1=Safak |last2=Bubola |first2=Emma |date=2024-01-28 |title=Two Masked Attackers Kill 1 in Shooting at Istanbul Church |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/28/world/europe/istanbul-church-shooting.html |access-date=2024-02-09 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}

File:St._John's_Cathedral_(RC),_Izmir.JPG is dedicated to John the Evangelist, who in the Book of Revelation sent greetings and instructions to the Seven churches of Asia, including İzmir]]

The largest Christian population in Turkey is located in Istanbul, which has a large community of Armenians and Greeks. Istanbul is also where the Patriarchate of Greek Orthodox Christianity is located. Antioch, located in Turkey's Hatay province, is the original seat of the namesake Antiochian Orthodox Church, but is now the titular see. The area, known for having ethnic diversity and large Christian community, has 7,000 Christians and 14 active churches. The city has one of the oldest churches in the world as well, called the Church of St Peter, which is said to have been founded by the Saint himself.{{cite web |url=http://mobile.todayszaman.com/national_visit-to-antakya-shows-turkey-embraces-religious-diversity_226554.html |title=Visit to Antakya shows Turkey embraces religious diversity |publisher=Mobile.todayszaman.com |date=November 7, 2010 |access-date=August 11, 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160122003642/http://mobile.todayszaman.com/national_visit-to-antakya-shows-turkey-embraces-religious-diversity_226554.html |archive-date=January 22, 2016 }}

The Syriac Orthodox Church has a strong presence in Mardin; many Assyrian Christians left during the late Ottoman genocides in 1915.{{Cite web| title = Evangelical in Turkey| work = SAT-7 UK| access-date = 2018-07-25| date = 2015-04-12| url = https://www.sat7uk.org/evangelical-in-turkey/| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180725103713/https://www.sat7uk.org/evangelical-in-turkey/| archive-date = July 25, 2018| url-status = live| df = mdy-all}} Tur Abdin is a large area with a multitude of mostly Syriac Orthodox churches, monasteries, and ruins. Settlements in Tur Abdin include Midyat. The Christian community in Midyat is supplemented by a refugee community from Syria and has four operating churches.{{cite web |url=http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/12/141229-syriac-christians-refugees-midyat-turkey/ |title=Middle Eastern Christians Flee Violence for Ancient Homeland |publisher=News.nationalgeographic.com |date=December 29, 2014 |access-date=August 11, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150807143222/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/12/141229-syriac-christians-refugees-midyat-turkey/ |archive-date=August 7, 2015 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all }} Some of the most significant Syriac churches and monasteries in existence are in or near Midyat including Mor Gabriel Monastery and the Saffron Monastery.

By the 21st century, Greek Orthodox Christians in Turkey had declined to only around 2,000–3,000. There are between 40,000 and 70,000 Armenian Orthodox Christians in Turkey. By some estimates, in the early 2000s there were between 10,000 and 20,000 Catholics and Protestants in Turkey.{{Cite book| publisher = Greenwood Publishing Group| isbn = 978-0-313-34215-8| last = Abazov| first = Rafis| title = Culture and Customs of Turkey| chapter = 2. Thoughts and Religions| date = 2009| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=kx-hnRY6E94C| access-date = July 25, 2018| archive-date = January 15, 2023| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230115220651/https://books.google.com/books?id=kx-hnRY6E94C| url-status = live}} Since the 1960s, a growing number of Turkish former Muslims are converting to Christianity; estimates range from 4,000 to 35,000 by various sources.{{cite book|title=A Quest for Equality: Minorities in Turkey| first=MRG international|last= report|year= 2007| isbn=9781904584636| page =13|publisher=Minority Rights Group International|quote= The estimated number of Protestants in Turkey is 4,000–6,000, most of whom live in Istanbul, Ankara, and İzmir. Protestantism has been a part of Turkey's history for 200 years, first spreading among the non-Muslim minorities. Conversion from Islam to Protestantism was very rare until the 1960s, but Muslim converts currently constitute the majority of Protestants.}}{{cite book|title=Muslim Nationalism and the New Turks: Updated Edition| first=Jenny |last= White|year= 2014| isbn=9781400851256| page =82|publisher=Princeton University Press|quote= a number that vastly exceeds the size of present-day Turkish-speaking Protestant churches, of whose 3,000 members are converts from Islam}}{{cite web|url=https://www.spiegel.de/international/world/after-the-missionary-massacre-christian-converts-live-in-fear-in-intolerant-turkey-a-478955.html|title=Christian Converts Live In Fear in Intolerant Turkey|date=23 April 2007|publisher=Der Spiegel|quote=The liberal newspaper Radikal estimates that there are about 10,000 converts in Turkey, expressing surprise that they could be seen as a "threat" in a country of 73 million people, 99 percent of whom are Muslim.|access-date=May 25, 2022|archive-date=July 19, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210719115558/https://www.spiegel.de/international/world/after-the-missionary-massacre-christian-converts-live-in-fear-in-intolerant-turkey-a-478955.html|url-status=live}}

Martin Kmetec, a Conventual Franciscan friar and current Archbishop of İzmir, stated in an interview with Aid to the Church in Need that ecumenical relations between Christians are generally good in the country: "In general, our relations with other Christian churches are good. The Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, Bartholomew I, for example, has a good relationship with the Focolare Movement and the new Apostolic Vicar of Istanbul, Bishop Massimiliano Palinuro. Likewise, here in İzmir we get together with the Orthodox Christians, but also with the Anglicans, on various Christian feast days. Armenian priests recently celebrated an Armenian liturgy at our Catholic Church of St. Polycarp because they do not have their own church in İzmir. We also worked together with the Armenians in İzmir to open a small book shop for the Bible Society. These are promising signs of an ecumenical dialogue."{{Cite web |last=ACN |date=2022-05-04 |title=Turkey: A "church with open doors" in an Islamic society |url=https://acninternational.org/turkey-a-church-in-an-islamic-society/ |access-date=2022-11-15 |website=ACN International |language=en-US |archive-date=November 15, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221115122049/https://acninternational.org/turkey-a-church-in-an-islamic-society/ |url-status=live }}

{{main|Armenian Apostolic Church}}

{{further|Armenians in Turkey}}

File:Vakifli church-DCP 8791 25p.jpg church in Vakifli, Turkey]]

The Armenian Apostolic Church traces its origins to St. Gregory the Illuminator who is credited with having introduced the Armenian king Tiridates III to Christianity. It is one of the most ancient churches established in the Caucasus and Eastern Anatolia. Historically, the Armenian Church accepted only the first three Ecumenical Councils, rejecting the Council of Chalcedon in 451 AD; its Christology is sometimes described as "non-Chalcedonian" for this reason. The Bible was first translated into the Armenian language by Mesrop Mashtots.{{Cite book| publisher = Oxford University Press| isbn = 978-0-19-860024-4| last = Hastings| first = Ed| title = The Oxford Companion to Christian Thought| date = 2000-12-21| url = https://archive.org/details/oxfordcompaniont00hast| url-access = registration| page = [https://archive.org/details/oxfordcompaniont00hast/page/40 40]| access-date = July 25, 2018| df = mdy-all}} The Armenian Christian community in Turkey is led by the Armenian Patriarchates of Istanbul and Jerusalem. {{As of|2008}} estimates of Turkey's Armenian Orthodox population range from between 50,000 and 70,000.

There are 35 churches maintained by the religious foundation in Istanbul and its surrounding areas. Besides Surp Asdvadzadzin Patriarchal Church (translation: the Holy Mother-of-God Armenian Patriarchal Church) in Kumkapi, Istanbul, there are tens of Armenian Apostolic churches. There are other churches in Kayseri, Diyarbakır, Derik, İskenderun, and Vakifli Koyu that are claimed by foundations as well. Around 1,000 Armenian churches throughout Turkey sit on public or privately owned land as well, with them all either being re-purposed or abandoned and/or in ruins.

• Armenian Catholic Church - There are several Armenian Catholic churches in Istanbul, including a large cemetery. In Mardin one remains as a Museum and occasional religious center.
• Armenian Evangelical Church - The Armenian Protestants have three churches in Istanbul from the 19th century.{{cite web |title=German Site on Christians in Turkey |work=Kirche-in-not.de |url=http://www.kirche-in-not.de/01_aktuelles |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041230070144/http://www.kirche-in-not.de/01_aktuelles/ |archive-date=December 30, 2004 }}

{{main|Autocephalous Turkish Orthodox Patriarchate}}

{{further|General Congregation of the Anatolian Turkish Orthodox}}

Image:Turcortodoxo.JPG of the Autocephalous Turkish Orthodox Patriarchate]]

Image:Patriarcadotur.JPG) Orthodox Church of the Autocephalous Turkish Orthodox Patriarchate in Galata, Istanbul]]

The Autocephalous Turkish Orthodox Patriarchate ({{langx|tr|{{italics correction|Bağımsız Türk Ortodoks Patrikhanesi}}}}), also referred to as the Turkish Orthodox Church, is an unrecognized Eastern Orthodox Christian denomination based in Turkey. It was founded in Kayseri by Pavlos Karahisarithis, a supporter of the General Congregation of the Anatolian Turkish Orthodox ({{langx|tr|{{italics correction|Umum Anadolu Türk Ortodoksları Cemaatleri}}}}), in 1922. Pavlos Karahisarithis became the Patriarch of this new Orthodox church, and took the name of Papa Eftim I. He was supported by 72 other Turkish Orthodox clerics.Alexis Alexandridis, "The Greek Minority in Istanbul and Greek-Turkish Relations, 1918-1974." Athens 1992, p. 151. cited by the Spanish Wikipedia

The start of the Patriarchate can be traced to the Greco-Turkish War (1919–1922). In 1922 a pro-Turkish Eastern Orthodox group, the General Congregation of the Anatolian Turkish Orthodox, was set up with the support from the Orthodox bishop of Havza, as well as a number of other congregations[https://books.google.com/books?id=miMiD7-h00YC&q=Turkish+Orthodox&pg=PA152 Page 152], The last dragoman: the Swedish orientalist Johannes Kolmodin as scholar, Elisabeth Özdalga representing a genuine movement among the Turkish-speaking, Orthodox Christian population of Anatolia{{cite web|url=http://www.atour.com/~aahgn/news/20040123b.html|title=The Political Role of the Turkish Orthodox Patriarchate (so-called)|website=www.atour.com|access-date=21 January 2019|archive-date=July 24, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170724024832/http://www.atour.com/~aahgn/news/20040123b.html|url-status=live}} who wished to remain both Orthodox and Turkish.[http://poj.peeters-leuven.be/content.php?url=article&id=565615&journal_code=JECS Abstract] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170803053422/http://poj.peeters-leuven.be/content.php?url=article&id=565615&journal_code=JECS |date=August 3, 2017 }} of Baba Eftim et l'Église orthodoxe turque, Journal of Eastern Christian Studies There were calls to establish a new Patriarchate with Turkish as the preferred language of Christian worship.[https://books.google.com/books?id=miMiD7-h00YC&q=Turkish+Orthodox&pg=PA153 Page 153], The last dragoman: the Swedish orientalist Johannes Kolmodin as scholar, Elisabeth Özdalga

In 1924, Karahisarithis started to conduct the Christian liturgy in Turkish, and quickly won support from the establishment of the modern Republic of Turkey, formed after the defeat and dissolution of the Ottoman Empire (1908–1922).[http://www.theturkishtimes.com/archive/02/12_15/f_erenol.html Leader of Turkish Nationalist Church Dies] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090107064956/http://www.theturkishtimes.com/archive/02/12_15/f_erenol.html |date=January 7, 2009 }} He claimed that the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople was ethnically centered and favored the Greek population. Being excommunicated by the Greek Orthodox Church for claiming to be a bishop while still having a wife and due to the fact that married bishops are not allowed in Eastern Orthodoxy, Karahisarithis, who later changed his name into Zeki Erenerol, called a Turkish ecclesiastical congress, which elected him Patriarch in 1924.

{{main|Greek Orthodox Church}}

{{further|Greeks in Turkey|Timeline of Eastern Orthodoxy in Greece (1821–1924)}}

File:Fethiye_Museum_9625.jpg, also known as the Church of Theotokos Pammakaristos (Greek: Θεοτόκος ἡ Παμμακάριστος, "All-Blessed Mother of God"), is one of the most famous Greek Orthodox Byzantine churches in Istanbul]]

File:Chora_Church_Constantinople_2007_panorama_002.jpg medieval Byzantine Greek Orthodox church preserved as the Chora Museum in the Edirnekapı neighborhood of Istanbul]]

File:Kısıl Kilise (Sivrihisar) 01.jpg ("Red Church") near Güzelyurt, Aksaray.]]

Constantinople, capital of the Byzantine Empire from 330/395 to 1453 AD, became established in the ecclesiastical hierarchy at the First Council of Constantinople in 381 AD. The historical origins of the Patriarchate of Constantinople go back to St. Andrew, Metrophanes and Alexander of Constantinople. Constantinople's primacy over the Patriarchates of Alexandria and Antioch was reaffirmed at the Council of Chalcedon in 481, after which the papacy in Rome supported Constantinople in its dispute with Alexandria over monophysitism. Later, when Rome sought to assert its primacy over Byzantium, the Eastern Orthodox Church developed the doctrine of pentarchy as a response.{{Cite book| publisher = Oxford University Press| isbn = 978-0-19-504652-6| last1 = Kazhdan| first1 = Alexander| last2 = Talbot| first2 = Alice-Mary| title = The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium| chapter = Constantinople, Patriarchate of| access-date = 2018-07-25| date = 2005-01-01| chapter-url = http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195046526.001.0001/acref-9780195046526-e-1229| archive-date = July 25, 2018| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180725112413/http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195046526.001.0001/acref-9780195046526-e-1229| url-status = live}}

During the 8th and 9th centuries, Byzantium was embroiled in the Iconoclastic persecution.{{Cite book| publisher = Oxford University Press| isbn = 978-0-19-504652-6| last1 = Hollingsworth| first1 = Paul A.| last2 = Cutler| first2 = Anthony| title = The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium| chapter = Iconoclasm| access-date = 2018-07-25| date = 2005-01-01| chapter-url = http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195046526.001.0001/acref-9780195046526-e-2419| archive-date = July 25, 2018| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180725122805/http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195046526.001.0001/acref-9780195046526-e-2419| url-status = live}} The Photian schism was also 9th century power struggle for the Patriarchate between Ignatios, backed by Pope Nicholas I, and Photios I of Constantinople.{{Cite book| publisher = ABC-CLIO| isbn = 978-1-61069-566-4| last1 = Curta| first1 = Florin| last2 = Holt| first2 = Andrew| title = Great Events in Religion: An Encyclopedia of Pivotal Events in Religious History [3 volumes]| date = 2016-11-28| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=dgF9DQAAQBAJ&pg=PA438| access-date = July 25, 2018| archive-date = January 15, 2023| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230115220652/https://books.google.com/books?id=dgF9DQAAQBAJ&pg=PA438| url-status = live}}{{Cite book| publisher = Oxford University Press| isbn = 978-0-19-504652-6| last = Kazhdan| first = Alexander| title = The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium| chapter = Photios| access-date = 2018-07-25| date = 2005-01-01| chapter-url = http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195046526.001.0001/acref-9780195046526-e-4332| archive-date = July 25, 2018| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180725122800/http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195046526.001.0001/acref-9780195046526-e-4332| url-status = live}}

The Byzantine Rite is similar to mass in the Catholic Church and the Divine Office (cycle of eight non-Mass services in the Catholic faith).{{Cite book| publisher = Oxford University Press| isbn = 978-0-19-866262-4| title = The Oxford Dictionary of the Middle Ages| chapter = Divine Office| access-date = 2018-07-25| date = 2010-01-01| chapter-url = http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780198662624.001.0001/acref-9780198662624-e-1794| archive-date = July 25, 2018| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180725122818/http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780198662624.001.0001/acref-9780198662624-e-1794| url-status = live}} In addition to the Hours of the Office, the Byzantine Rite is used for the administration of sacraments; among these are Holy Communion (the most direct connection), baptism, Chrismation, confession, unction, matrimony, and ordination, as well as blessings, exorcisms, and other occasions.{{Cite book| publisher = Oxford University Press| isbn = 978-0-19-866262-4| title = The Oxford Dictionary of the Middle Ages| chapter = Byzantine rite| access-date = 2018-07-25| date = 2010-01-01| chapter-url = http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780198662624.001.0001/acref-9780198662624-e-1083| archive-date = July 25, 2018| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180725122812/http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780198662624.001.0001/acref-9780198662624-e-1083| url-status = live}}

The three divine liturgies of the Byzantine rite are John Chrysostom's, Basil's, and the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts.

{{main|Catholic Church in Turkey}}

The Catholic Church in Turkey is represented by jurisdictions of Western and Eastern rites. Though the Armenian Apostolic Church was no longer in union with Rome and Byzantium after the Council of Chalcedon in 451 AD, a number of Armenian Christians have converted to Roman Catholicism over the years. After the Ottoman sultan Mahmud II extended formal recognition to Roman Catholics, an Armenian Catholic Patriarchate was established in Constantinople.{{Cite book| publisher = Rowman & Littlefield| isbn = 978-0-8108-8493-9| last1 = Kurian| first1 = George Thomas| last2 = Lamport| first2 = Mark A.| title = Encyclopedia of Christian Education| date = 2015-05-07| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=e6YoCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA70| access-date = July 25, 2018| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180725103713/https://books.google.com/books?id=e6YoCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA70| archive-date = July 25, 2018| url-status = live| df = mdy-all}}{{Cite book| publisher = Brill| isbn = 978-90-04-18193-9| last1 = Sluglett| first1 = Peter| last2 = Weber| first2 = Stefan| title = Syria and Bilad Al-Sham Under Ottoman Rule: Essays in Honour of Abdul Karim Rafeq| date = 2010| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=aY46oohf9LEC&pg=PA465| access-date = July 25, 2018| archive-date = January 15, 2023| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230115220653/https://books.google.com/books?id=aY46oohf9LEC&pg=PA465| url-status = live}}

• Latin rite:
• Vicariate Apostolic of Istanbul, with seat in the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit, Istanbul. Basilica: St. Anthony of Padua Church in Istanbul, Istanbul. Jurisdiction: Immediately subjected to the Holy See
• Vicariate Apostolic of Anatolia, with seat in the Cathedral of the Annunciation, İskenderun, and Co-Cathedral of St. Anthony of Padua, Mersin. Jurisdiction: Immediately subjected to the Holy See
• Roman Catholic Archdiocese of İzmir, with seat in the St. John's Cathedral, İzmir.
• Armenian rite: Armenian Catholic Archdiocese of Istanbul. Cathedral: Holy Mother of God Armenian Cathedral Church, Istanbul. Jurisdiction: Immediately subjected to the Holy See.
• Byzantine Rite: Greek Catholic Apostolic Exarchate of Istanbul. Cathedral: Holy Trinity Greek Catholic Cathedral, Istanbul (Ayatriada Rum Katoliki Kilise). Jurisdiction: Immediately subjected to the Holy See.
• Syriac Rite: Syrian Catholic Patriarchal Exarchate of Turkey, with seat in Istanbul. Jurisdiction: Subject to the Syriac Catholic Church.
• Chaldaean Rite: Chaldean Catholic Archdiocese of Diarbekir. Cathedral: St. Mary's Cathedral, Diyarbakır, but with seat in Beyoğlu, Istanbul. Jurisdiction: Chaldean Catholic Church.

{{main|Syriac Orthodox Church}}

{{further|Assyrians in Turkey}}

File:Deyrulzaferan_P1030925_20080501122627.JPG, Patriarchal Vicarate of Mardin near Mardin, Turkey. After the Romans withdrew from the fortress, Mor Shlemon transformed it into a monastery in 493 AD.]]

The Syriac Orthodox Church, that follows the West Syriac Rite, was present in various southeastern regions of modern Turkey since the early medieval times. Since the 12th century, the patriarchal seat itself was transferred to Mor Hananyo Monastery (Deir al-Za`faran), in southeastern Anatolia near Mardin (modern Turkey), where it remained until 1924. In modern times, active churches are located in Istanbul, Diyarbakır, Adıyaman, and Elazığ.{{Cite web |url=http://www.soc-wus.org/Directory.htm |title=Syriac Orthodox Church - Archdiocese of the Western United States |access-date=November 15, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151117033851/http://www.soc-wus.org/Directory.htm |archive-date=November 17, 2015 |url-status=live |df=mdy-all }} There are many both active and inactive churches in the traditionally Assyrian area of Tur Abdin, which is a region centered in the western area of Mardin Province, and has areas that go into Şırnak, and Batman Province. Up until the 1980s the Syriac population was concentrated there as well, but a large amount of the population has fled the region to Istanbul or abroad due to the Kurdish-Turkish conflict. The Church structure is still organized however, with 12 reverends stationed in churches and monasteries there.{{Cite web |url=http://soc-wus.org/ourchurch/Archd%20Turabdin.htm |title=Mor Timotheos Samuel Aktaş |access-date=November 15, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304094656/http://soc-wus.org/ourchurch/Archd%20Turabdin.htm |archive-date=March 4, 2016 |url-status=live |df=mdy-all }} Churches were also in several other provinces as well, but during the Seyfo the churches in those churches were destroyed or left ruined.

In modern times, Syriac Orthodox Church hase these provinces in Turkey:{{cite web |title=İstanbul - Ankara Süryani Ortodoks Metropolitliği |url=http://www.suryanikadim.org/kiliseler.aspx |website=www.suryanikadim.org |language=en |access-date=December 26, 2020 |archive-date=September 4, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180904092638/http://www.suryanikadim.org/kiliseler.aspx |url-status=live }}

• Patriarchal Vicariate of Istanbul and Ankara under the spiritual guidance and direction of Archbishop Filüksinos Yusuf Çetin.
• Patriarchal Vicariate of Mardin under the spiritual guidance and direction of Archbishop Filüksinos Saliba Özmen.
• Patriarchal Vicariate of Turabdin under the spiritual guidance and direction of Archbishop Timotheus Samuel Aktaş.
• Archbishopric of Adıyaman under the spiritual guidance and direction of Archbishop Gregorius Melki Ürek.

{{main|Church of the East}}

{{further|Assyrians in Turkey}}

Historical Church of the East, that followed the East Syriac Rite, was present in various southeastern regions of modern Turkey throughout medieval and early modern times, and the continuation of that presence is embodied in the modern Assyrian Church of the East, and the Ancient Church of the East. Ecclesiastical structure of East Syriac Christianity in the region was almost completely wiped out in the Assyrian genocide. Originally, one of its main centers was in the region of Hakkari, in the village of Qodchanis, that was the seat of Shimun-line patriarchs from the 17th century up to the advent of modern times. Patriarch Mar Dinkha IV of the Assyrian Church of the East visited Turkey in 2012.{{Cite web |url=https://news.assyrianchurch.org/his-holiness-mar-dinkha-iv-catholicos-patriarch-of-the-assyrian-church-of-the-east-participates-in-middle-east-peace-conference |title=His Holiness Mar Dinkha IV, Catholicos-Patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East Participates in Middle East Peace Conference (2012) |access-date=December 26, 2020 |archive-date=September 19, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200919150514/https://news.assyrianchurch.org/his-holiness-mar-dinkha-iv-catholicos-patriarch-of-the-assyrian-church-of-the-east-participates-in-middle-east-peace-conference/ |url-status=live }}

{{main|Protestantism in Turkey}}

Armenian Protestants own 3 churches in Istanbul since the 19th century.{{cite web |title=German Site on Christians in Turkey |work=Kirche-in-not.de |url=http://www.kirche-in-not.de/01_aktuelles/meldungen_2006_tuerkische_christen_fuer_eu_beitritt.php |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928002647/http://www.kirche-in-not.de/01_aktuelles/meldungen_2006_tuerkische_christen_fuer_eu_beitritt.php |url-status=dead |archive-date=September 28, 2007 |access-date=August 11, 2015}} There is an Alliance of Protestant Churches in Turkey.{{cite web |title=World Evangelical Alliance |work=Worldevangelicalalliance.com |url=http://www.worldevangelicalalliance.com/members/europe.htm |access-date=August 11, 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131203003227/http://www.worldevangelicalalliance.com/members/europe.htm |archive-date=December 3, 2013 }} There are Protestant churches for foreigners in compounds and resorts, although they are not counted in lists of churches as they are used only by tourists and expatriates.

File:Crimea_Memorial_Church_(Kırım_Kilisesi)_Beyoğlu,_İstanbul_-_Mart_2013.JPG in Turkey is under the jurisdiction of the Church of England]]

Anglicans in Turkey form part of the Eastern Archdeaconry of the Diocese of Gibraltar in Europe. In 2008 the Anglican bishop of Europe, Geoffrey Rowell, caused controversy by ordaining a local man to minister to Turkish-speaking Anglicans in Istanbul.{{cite web |url=http://www.churchtimes.co.uk/content.asp?id=50162 |title=Istanbul ordination may worsen life for Christians |work=Church Times |date=January 18, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120214235804/http://www.churchtimes.co.uk/content.asp?id=50162 |archive-date=February 14, 2012}}

The Armenian Evangelical Church was founded in 1846, after Patriarch Matteos Chouhajian excommunicated members of the "Pietisical Union" who had started to raise questions about a possible conflicts between the Biblical scriptures and Sacred traditions. The new church was recognized by the Ottoman government in 1850 after encouragement from the British Ambassador Henry Wellesley Cowley.{{Cite book| publisher = Cambridge University Press| isbn = 978-1-139-45018-8| last = Winter| first = Jay| title = America and the Armenian Genocide of 1915| date = 2004-01-08| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=pnLSRXAXTfcC&pg=PA188| access-date = July 25, 2018| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160305235158/https://books.google.com/books?id=pnLSRXAXTfcC| archive-date = March 5, 2016| url-status = live| df = mdy-all}} There were reportedly 15 Turkish converts in Constantinople in 1864. One church minister said "We wanted the Turks first to become Armenian". Hagop A. Chakmakjian commented that "the implication was that to be Christian meant to be identified with the Armenian people".{{Cite book| publisher = Brill Archive| last = Chakmakjian| first = Hagop A.| title = Armenian Christology and Evangelization of Islam: A Survey of the Relevance of the Christology of the Armenian Apostolic Church to Armenian Relations with Its Muslim Environment| date = 1965| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=zMkUAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA127| access-date = July 25, 2018| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180725103713/https://books.google.com/books?id=zMkUAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA127| archive-date = July 25, 2018| url-status = live| df = mdy-all}}

{{main article|The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Turkey}}

Recognizing that present-day Ephesus of the New Testament endowed Turkey with historical importance, early leaders of the LDS Church preached in Ottoman Turkey in 1850, and—with the help of British LDS soldiers—organized a congregation in Istanbul in 1854.{{Cite web| url=https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/facts-and-statistics/country/turkey| title=Church of Jesus Christ: Turkey| publisher=Church of Jesus Christ| access-date=October 30, 2020| archive-date=September 27, 2020| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200927052033/https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/facts-and-statistics/country/turkey| url-status=live}} In 1979, another local community of LDS adherents was organized in Ankara.

{{incomplete list|date=April 2016}}

{{cite web |url=http://www.tao-klarjeti.ge/img_site/naxazebi/naxazebi_en.html |title=Travel to Tao-Klarjeti – Drawings |publisher=Tao-klarjeti.ge |access-date=August 11, 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150602021641/http://www.tao-klarjeti.ge/img_site/naxazebi/naxazebi_en.html |archive-date=June 2, 2015 }}

File:Gürcü kiliseleri Türkiye Georgian churches Turkey.png

• Balat, Fatih
• Fener, Fatih
• Moda, Kadıköy

• Vakıflı, Samandağ

• Anıtlı, Midyat
• Beth Kustan, Midyat
• Elbeğendi, Midyat
• Gülgöze, Midyat
• Taşköy, Nusaybin
• Üçköy, Nusaybin
• Üçyol, Nusaybin
• Dağiçi, Nusaybin
• Bülbül, Yeşilli
• Dereiçi, Savur
• Çatalçam, Dargeçit

• Altıntaş, Midyat
• Bardakçı, Midyat
• Barıştepe, Midyat
• Budaklı, Midyat
• Doğançay
• Güngören, Midyat
• İzbırak, Midyat
• Narlı, Midyat
• Mercimekli, Midyat
• Ortaca, Midyat
• Yemişli, Midyat
• Dibek, Nusaybin
• Odabaşı, Nusaybin
• Girmeli, Nusaybin
• Günyurdu, Nusaybin

• Öğündük, İdil
• Haberli, İdil
• Kösreli, Silopi
• Aksu, Silopi
• Cevizağacı, Beytüşşebap

{{Portal|Christianity|Turkey}}

• Catholic Church in Turkey
• Christianity and Islam
• Christianity in Cyprus
• Christianity in the Ottoman Empire
• Eastern Orthodoxy in Turkey
• Freedom of religion in Turkey
• Human rights in the Middle East
• Human rights in Muslim-majority countries#Turkey
• Human rights in Turkey#Freedom of religion
• Irreligion in Turkey
• Islam and other religions
• Islam in Turkey
• Karamanlides, a Turkish-speaking Greek Orthodox community
• Autocephalous Turkish Orthodox Patriarchate
• Nestorian rebellion
• Persecution of Christians in the Muslim world
• Protestantism in Turkey
• Religion in the Middle East
• Religion in Turkey
• Religious minorities in Turkey
• Armenians in Turkey
• Assyrians in Turkey
• Greeks in Turkey
• Jews in Turkey
• Kurds in Turkey
• Yazidis in Turkey
• Secularism in Turkey
• Xenophobia and discrimination in Turkey
• Xenophobia and racism in the Middle East

{{Reflist|colwidth=30em}}

{{Refbegin|2}}

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• {{Cite book|last=Brock|first=Sebastian P.|author-link=Sebastian P. Brock|chapter=The Monastery of Mor Gabriel: A Historical Overview and Its Wider Significance Today|title=The Slow Disappearance of the Syriacs from Turkey and of the Grounds of the Mor Gabriel Monastery|year=2012|location=Münster|publisher=LIT Verlag|pages=181–200|isbn=9783643902689|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=no5_QSBVq7kC|access-date=January 25, 2021|archive-date=January 15, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230115221202/https://books.google.com/books?id=no5_QSBVq7kC|url-status=live}}
• {{cite book |last=Çelik |first=Zeynep |title=The Remaking of Istanbul: Portrait of an Ottoman City in the Nineteenth Century |year=1993 |publisher=University of California Press |location=Berkeley and Los Angeles |isbn=978-0-520-08239-7}}
• {{Cite book|last=Fischbach|first=Ingrid|chapter=Persecution of Christians in Turkey|title=The Slow Disappearance of the Syriacs from Turkey and of the Grounds of the Mor Gabriel Monastery|year=2012|location=Münster|publisher=LIT Verlag|pages=171–177|isbn=9783643902689|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=no5_QSBVq7kC|access-date=January 25, 2021|archive-date=January 15, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230115221202/https://books.google.com/books?id=no5_QSBVq7kC|url-status=live}}
• {{Cite book|last=Frazee|first=Charles A.|title=Catholics and Sultans: The Church and the Ottoman Empire 1453-1923|year=2006|orig-year=1983|location=Cambridge|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=9780521027007|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X6DM4szwUpEC|access-date=December 26, 2020|archive-date=January 15, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230115221203/https://books.google.com/books?id=X6DM4szwUpEC|url-status=live}}
• {{Cite book|last=Jakob|first=Joachim|title=Ostsyrische Christen und Kurden im Osmanischen Reich des 19. und frühen 20. Jahrhunderts|year=2014|location=Münster|publisher=LIT Verlag|isbn=9783643506160|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vNV8BAAAQBAJ|access-date=December 26, 2020|archive-date=January 15, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230115221203/https://books.google.com/books?id=vNV8BAAAQBAJ|url-status=live}}
• {{Cite book|last=Murre van den Berg|first=Heleen| author-link = Heleen Murre-van den Berg | chapter=Chaldeans and Assyrians: The Church of the East in the Ottoman Period|title=The Christian Heritage of Iraq|year=2009|location=Piscataway|publisher=Gorgias Press|pages=146–164|isbn=9781607241119|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nU2cPgAACAAJ|access-date=December 26, 2020|archive-date=January 15, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230115221204/https://books.google.com/books?id=nU2cPgAACAAJ|url-status=live}}
• {{Cite book|last=Murre van den Berg|first=Heleen|title=Scribes and Scriptures: The Church of the East in the Eastern Ottoman Provinces (1500-1850)|year=2015|location=Louvain|publisher=Peeters Publishers|isbn=9789042930797|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-piLrgEACAAJ|access-date=December 26, 2020|archive-date=January 15, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230115221706/https://books.google.com/books?id=-piLrgEACAAJ|url-status=live}}
• {{Cite book|last=Nieper|first=Jens|chapter=The Syrian Orthodox Church: The Aramean Community as an Ecumenical Entity in a Transnational Dimension|title=The Slow Disappearance of the Syriacs from Turkey and of the Grounds of the Mor Gabriel Monastery|year=2012|location=Münster|publisher=LIT Verlag|pages=57–62|isbn=9783643902689|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=no5_QSBVq7kC|access-date=January 25, 2021|archive-date=January 15, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230115221202/https://books.google.com/books?id=no5_QSBVq7kC|url-status=live}}
• {{Cite book|last=Sommer|first=Renate|author-link=Renate Sommer|chapter=The Role of Religious Freedom in the Context of the Accession Negotiations between the European Union and Turkey - The Example of the Arameans|title=The Slow Disappearance of the Syriacs from Turkey and of the Grounds of the Mor Gabriel Monastery|year=2012|location=Münster|publisher=LIT Verlag|pages=157–170|isbn=9783643902689|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=no5_QSBVq7kC|access-date=January 25, 2021|archive-date=January 15, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230115221202/https://books.google.com/books?id=no5_QSBVq7kC|url-status=live}}
• {{Cite book |last=Meyendorff |first=John |title=The Byzantine Legacy in the Orthodox Church |publisher=St Vladimir's Seminary Press |date=1982 |isbn=978-0-913836-90-3 |location=Yonkers |author-link=John Meyendorff}}

{{refend}}

• {{cite book|title=The Thirty-Year Genocide: Turkey's Destruction of Its Christian Minorities, 1894–1924|author1=Benny Morris|author2=Dror Ze'evi|date=24 April 2019|publisher=Harvard University Press|isbn=978-0-674-91645-6}}
• {{cite web|url=https://theconversation.com/christians-have-lived-in-turkey-for-two-millennia-but-their-future-is-uncertain-127296|title=Christians have lived in Turkey for two millennia – but their future is uncertain|work=Ramazan Kılınç|date=November 21, 2019 |publisher=The Conversation}}
• {{cite web|url=https://anca.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Christian-persecution-in-Turkey.pdf|title=Persecution of Christians in Turkey|publisher=Armenian National Committee of America}}
• {{cite web|url=https://www.ekathimerini.com/241808/article/ekathimerini/life/the-30-year-genocide-of-christians-in-turkey|title=The 30-year genocide of Christians in Turkey|work=Sakis Ioannidis|publisher=ekathimrini.com}}

{{commons category}}

• [http://noravank.am/eng/articles/detail.php?ELEMENT_ID=6514 Arestakes Simavoryan, CHRISTIANS IN TODAY’S TURKEY] (Protestants and Catholics)
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20190421125503/http://www.turkishchristians.net/ Turkish Christians Network]

{{Christianity in Turkey}}

{{Demographics of Turkey}}

{{Europe topic|Christianity in}}

{{Asia in topic|Christianity in}}