Although the Turkish government states that more than 99% of the population is Muslim, academic research and polls give different results of the percentage of Muslims which are sometimes lower, most of which are above the 90% range, but also lower. [75] Prime Minister Erdoğan said that "When it comes to the question, 'Are you recognizing [him] as ecumenical? The concept of "minorities" has only been accepted by the Republic of Turkey as defined by the Treaty of Lausanne (1923) and thence strictly limited to Greeks, Jews and Armenians, only on religious matters, excluding from the scope of the concept the ethnic identities of these minorities as of others such as the Kurds who make up 15% of the country; others include Assyrians/Syriacs of various Christian denominations, Alevis and all the others. Its application to join the European Union divided existing members, some of which questioned whether a Muslim country could fit in. Islam is the largest religion in Turkey according to the state, with 98.5% of the population being automatically registered by the state as Muslim, for anyone whose parents are not of any other officially recognised religion and the remaining 0.2% are Christians or adherents of other officially recognised religions. According to Ipsos, which interviewed 17,180 adults across 22 countries poll's showed that 82% of Turkey was Muslim and 7% of those who were interviewed from Turkey followed no religion whereas 6% identified as "Spiritual but not religious".[8]. In Şırnak 66 percent of 15-year-old girls could not read or write.[58]. According to the government, 99.8% of the Turkish population is Muslim, mostly Sunni, some 10 to 15 million are Alevis. A poll conducted by Eurobarometer, KONDA and some other research institutes in 2013 showed that around 4.5 million of the 15+ population had no religion. But it may annoy some [people] in my country. [19][20], The remainder of the population belongs to other faiths, particularly Christian denominations (Eastern Orthodox, Armenian Apostolic, Syriac Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant), and Judaism (mostly Sephardi Jews, and a smaller Ashkenazi community.)[21]. This article is about the demographic features of the population of Turkey, including population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population. Turkey's Constitutional Changes: Much Ado About Nothing? 25–54 years: In 2013, the parliament of Turkey passed legislation that bans all forms of advertising for alcoholic beverages and tightened restriction of alcohol sales.
