Islam in Turkey
Islam is the most practiced religion in Turkey. As much as 90% of the population follows the Sunni Madhab of Islam. Most Turkish Sunni Muslims belong to the Hanafi school of jurisprudence. The established presence of Islam in the region that now constitutes modern Turkey dates back to the later half of the 11th century, when the Seljuks started expanding into eastern Anatolia.[2]
While records count the number of Muslims as 99.8%,[I] this is likely to be an overestimation; most surveys estimate lower numbers at around 94%.[3][4][5][6][7] The most popular school of thought (maddhab) being the Hanafi school of Sunni Islam (about 90% of overall Muslim denominations). The remaining Muslim sects, forming about 9% of the Muslim population,[8] consist of Alevis, Ja'faris (representing 1%[9][10]) and Alawites (with an estimated population of around 500,000 to 1 million, or about 1%[11][12]). There is also a minority of Sufi and non-denominational Muslims.[10][13][14][15]