Baháʼí Faith in Turkey

While in Istanbul and Edirne the followers of the religion started to become known as Baháʼís, and a significant portion of Baháʼu'lláh's writings were written while he was in current-day Turkey.

After joining the religion in 1906 in the United States Stanwood Cobb[8] taught history and Latin at Robert College in Constantinople in the period 1907–1910 and undertook travels to see ʻAbdu'l-Bahá.

[9][10] In succeeding years, Cobb wrote several works dealing with Turkey - The Real Turk, ISBN B000NUP6SI, 1914,[11] Ayesha of the Bosphorus, 1915, and Islamic Contributions to Civilization in 1963.

Wellesley Tudor Pole had been pursuing investigations in the Middle East and visited Constantinople where he heard of ʻAbdu'l-Bahá in 1908[12] and soon became a Baháʼí.

[13] The woman known as Isabella Grinevskaya moved from Odesa Ukraine[14] after gaining some notability as a playwright[15] to Constantinople and after meeting ʻAbdu'l-Bahá on a trip to Egypt became a member of the Baháʼí Faith.

[21] In 1959 the Baháʼí National Spiritual Assembly of Turkey was formed with the help of ʻAlí-Akbar Furútan, a Hand of the Cause — an individual considered to have achieved a distinguished rank in service to the religion.

However the judges chose to disregard these findings and on July 15, 1961 declared that the Baháʼí Faith was a forbidden sect but this decision was appealed to the Turkish Supreme Court.

[21] Starting in 1960 until 1990, however, Baháʼís could register with the government when the Interior Ministry issued instructions introducing a new standardized code system that did not include the religion,[22] a situation similar to the current Egyptian identification card controversy.

[4] But turmoil continued when on August 6, 1996, 21 Iranians (8 men, 4 women and 9 children, the youngest of whom is 4 years old), approached the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Ankara to request asylum from Iran.

UNHCR officials registered their names and informed them of new regulations which require asylum seekers to apply within five days to the police in the city where they entered the country.

Despite the regulation, applicants must choose Muslim, Christian, Jew, Hindu, Zoroastrian, Confucian, Taoist, Buddhist, Religionless, Other, or Unknown as their religious affiliation so individuals can't be registered as Baháʼís.

In January 2001 two Baháʼís were detained for proselytizing in Sivas while a local imam commenting on the arrest made a public rebuke alluding to those "whose killing is necessary.

[32] The Turkish government supported the declaration of the Presidency of the European Union when he "denounced" the trial of Iranian Baháʼís announced in February 2009.

[3] The Association of Religion Data Archives (relying on World Christian Encyclopedia) estimated some 21,000 Baháʼís in Turkey - and some 880 in Cyprus.