Country Demographics:

• Population:  68.8 million                                      
• Religions:   Muslim 99.8% (primarily Sunni), Other 0.2% (primarily Christians and Jews)
• Income Per Capita:  $2,500 year/ $6.94 day
• Government Type:  Republican parliamentary democracy
  Chief of State:  President Ahmet Necdet SEZER (since May 2000)
  Head of Government: Prime Minister Recep Tayyip ERDOGAN (March 2003)

Legal Profession:

• No current estimate for the number of lawyers in Turkey was available at the time of publication.
• Estimated number of believers involved in the legal profession is 12.
• There is currently no local Christian lawyers group in Turkey; Christian lawyers are members of more general Christian groups (e.g., churches).

Major Activities of Christian Lawyers:

• Evangelizing (as part of general Christian groups).

Convocation Goals:

• To meet other Christian lawyers and participate in information sharing.

Prayer Items:

• Peace for Christian lawyers in Turkey and their families.

Contact Information:

• Atilla Tanman behnankonutgan@kitabimukaddes.com

ªTurkey In Actionª

During the past year there have been several exchanges between Christian lawyers in Turkey and Bulgaria.  The Christian community in Turkey is very small and needs assistance from other European advocacy groups.  Latcho Popov has taken the initiative to help Turkey at “such a time as this.”  Atilla Tanman, a young Christian lawyer in Istanbul, was invited to see the work of the Bulgarian Rule of Law Institute in December 2003 and encouraged to work in cooperation with his Christian colleagues from Advocates Europe.