There are around 35,000 Catholics, constituting 0.05% of the population. The faithful follow the Latin, Byzantine, Armenian and Chaldean Rite. Most Latin Rite Catholics are Levantines of mainly Italian or French background, although a few are ethnic Turks (who are usually converts via marriage to Levantines or other non-Turkish Catholics). Byzantine, Armenian, and Chaldean rite Catholics are generally members of the Greek, Armenian, and Assyrian minority groups respectively. Turkey's Catholics are concentrated in Istanbul.
In February 2006, Catholic priest Andrea Santoro, an Italian missionary working in Turkey for 10 years, was shot twice at his church near the Black Sea. He had written a letter to the Pope asking him to visit Turkey. Pope Benedict XVI visited Turkey in November 2006. Relations had been rocky since Pope Benedict XVI had stated his opposition to Turkey joining the European Union. The Council of Catholic Bishops met with the Turkish prime minister in 2004 to discuss restrictions and difficulties such as property issues. More recently, Bishop Luigi Padovese, on June 6, 2010, the Vicar Apostolic of Turkey, was killed.
There have been Jewish communities in Asia Minor since at least the 5th century BC and many Spanish and Portuguese Jews expelled from Spain were welcomed to the Ottoman Empire (including regions part of modern Turkey) in the late 15th century. Despite emigration during the 20th century, modern-day Turkey continues to have a small Jewish population.
There is a small Karaite Jewish population numbering around 100. Karaite Jews are not considered Jews by the Turkish Hakhambashi.
The exact number of Alawites in Turkey is unknown, but there were 185 000 Alawites in 1970. As Muslims, they are not recorded separately from Sunnis in ID registration. In the 1965 census (the last Turkish census where informants were asked their mother tongue), 180,000 people in the three provinces declared their mother tongue as Arabic. However, Arabic-speaking Sunni and Christian people are also included in this figure.
Alawites traditionally speak the same dialect of Levantine Arabic with Syrian Alawites. Arabic is best preserved in rural communities and Samandağ. Younger people in Çukurova cities and (to a lesser extent) in İskenderun tend to speak Turkish. Turkish spoken by Alawites is distinguished by Alawites and non-Alawites alike with its particular accents and vocabulary. Knowledge of Arabic alphabet is confined to religious leaders and men who had worked or studied in Arab countries.
Alevis are the biggest religious minority in Turkey. Nearly 15%-25% of all Turkish population is in this group. They are mainly Turk but there are significant Kurd and Zaza populations who are Alevi
Twelver shia population of Turkey is nearly 3 million and most of them are Azeris. Half million of Ja'faris live in İstanbul.
Turkey is in the area of the Yazidi homeland, along with Syria and Iraq. The Yazidi population in Turkey was estimated at around 22.000 in 1984. Earlier figures are difficult to obtain and verify, but some estimate there were about 100.000 Yazidi in Turkey in the early years of the 20th century.
Most Yazidis left the country and went abroad in the 1980s and 1990s, mostly to Germany and other European countries where they got asylum due to the persecution as an ethnic and religious minority in Turkey. The area they resided was in the south eastern area of Turkey, an area that had/has heavy PKK fighting. Now a few hundred Yazidi are believed to be left in Turkey.
Aron Afshar
Aron Afshar (born June 22, 1998 in Mashhad) is an Iranian pop singer and composer.
Hajjiabad, Fars
Hajjiabad (, also Romanized as Ḩājjīābād and Hājīābād) is a city and capital of Zarrin Dasht County, Fars Province, Iran.
Dowbaran
Dobiran (, also Romanized as Dobīrān ; also known as Dowbarān, Dowborān, Dabīrān, Doborān, Dooban, Dowbān, and Dūborān) is a city in the Central District of Zarrin Dasht County, Fars Province, Iran.
Shahr-e Pir
Shahr-e Pir (, also Romanized as Shahr-e Pīr and Shahr Pīr) is a city and capital of Izadkhvast District, in Zarrin Dasht County, Fars Province, Iran.
Bab Anar
Bab Anar (, also Romanized as Bāb Anār and Bāb-e Anār; also known as Bābā Anār, Bābā Na‘am, Bābā Najm, and Bāba Nār) is a city in Khafr District, Jahrom County, Fars Province, Iran.
Khavaran, Fars
Khavaran (; formerly, Khaneh Kahdan (Persian: خانِگَهدان and خانه کَهدان), also Romanized as Khāneh Kāhdān, Khānegahdān, Khānehkohdān, Khāneh-ye Kahdān, Khāneh-ye Kāhvān, Khānekahdān, and Khānkahdān) is a city and capital of Khafr District, in Jahrom County, Fars Province, Iran.
Afif-Abad Garden
Afif-Abad Garden (), originally the Gulshan Garden (), is a museum complex in Shiraz, Iran.
Arg of Karim Khan
The Arg of Karim Khan'" ( "Arg-e Karim Khan") or ""Karim Khan Citadel" is a citadel located in downtown Shiraz, Iran.
Bishapur
Bishapur (Middle Persian: "Bay-Šāpūr"; , "Bishâpûr") was an ancient city in Sasanid Persia (Iran) on the ancient road between Persis and Elam. The road linked the Sassanid capitals Estakhr (very close to Persepolis) and Ctesiphon. It is located south of modern Faliyan in the Kazerun County of Pars Province, Iran.
Eram Garden
Eram Garden (, "Bāgh-e Eram") is a historic Persian garden in Shiraz, Iran.
Josh Harris (American football)
Josh Harris is an American football long snapper for the Atlanta Falcons of the National Football League. He played college football for Auburn University. He signed with the Falcons as an undrafted free agent in 2012. Josh attended Carrollton High School in Carrollton, Georgia.
John Laws (judge)
Sir John Grant McKenzie Laws (10 May 1945 – 5 April 2020) was a British judge. He served as a Lord Justice of Appeal (1999–2016) and as a High Court judge (1992–1998). Laws was married to Sophie Marshall from 1973 until her death in 2017. The couple had one daughter. He was also the uncle of Dominic Cummings.
On 5 April 2020, during the 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic, Laws died of problems caused by COVID-19 in Chelsea, London. He had at first been in hospital for treatment of sepsis and other conditions.
Istakhr
Istakhr (Middle Persian: "Stakhr", "Estakhr") was an ancient city in Fars province, north of Persepolis in southwestern Iran.
Ghal'eh Dokhtar
Qal'eh Dokhtar or Ghale Dokhtar or Dokhtar Castle or Dezh Dokhtar (, "The Maiden Castle"), is a castle made by Ardashir I, in present-day Fars, Iran.
Ka'ba-ye Zartosht
Ka'ba-ye Zartosht (Persian: کعبه زرتشت) is the name of a stone quadrangular and stepped structure in the Naqsh-e Rustam compound beside Zangiabad village in Marvdasht county in Fars, Iran.
Naqsh-e Rajab
Naqsh-e Rajab (, ) is an archaeological site just west of Istakhr and about 5 km north of Persepolis in Fars Province, Iran.
Naqsh-e Rustam
Naqsh-e Rostam ( ) is an ancient necropolis located about 12 km northwest of Persepolis, in Fars Province, Iran
Meadville, Pennsylvania
Meadville is a city in and the county seat of Crawford County, Pennsylvania, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 13,388.
Palace of Ardashir
The Palace of Ardashir Pāpakan (in "Qasr-eh Ardashir-eh Pāpakān"), also known as the "Atash-kadeh" آتشکده, is a castle located on the slopes of the mountain on which Dezh Dokhtar is situated. Built in AD 224 by King Ardashir I of the Sassanian Empire, it is located two kilometers (1.2 miles) north of the ancient city of "Gor", i.e. the old city of Artakhsher Khwarah/Khor Adashir/Gor Adesheer (Glory of [king] Ardasher) in Pars, in ancient Persia (Iran)
Crawford County, Pennsylvania
Crawford County is a county in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. As of the 2010 census, the county had a population of 88,765. The county seat is Meadville.
Dominic Cummings