Is apostasy illegal in Turkey?
Criminal offense
Turkey does not legally punish apostasy but has mechanisms that make it difficult for citizens to be registered as non-Muslim, with laws against insulting religious beliefs.
Turkey is one of 15 countries classified “Criminal offense” for apostasy — 50% of the 30 with data. (Also searched as leaving a religion.)
Source
- Taken from
- Wikipedia: Apostasy in Islam by country
- Last checked
- 7 July 2026
- How it was classified
- Classified by a language model from the source text, then checked against hand-verified reference countries.
Nearby countries
- Palestine
- Criminal offense Palestine's legal system allows charges for defaming religion, with imprisonment risks for atheists and apostates.
- Jordan
- Criminal offense Jordan allows apostasy charges in Islamic courts with serious civil consequences like imprisonment and loss of marriage rights.
- Iraq
- Criminal offense In Iraq, while the constitution guarantees freedom of thought, a 15-year-old was imprisoned and tortured for declaring himself an atheist, indicating that apostasy can carry serious legal consequences.
- Kuwait
- Criminal offense Kuwait's family law allows Muslim courts to prosecute apostasy with penalties including annulment of marriage and property confiscation.
- Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Criminal offense Apostasy from Islam in Bosnia and Herzegovina was punishable by death until the Edict of Toleration in 1844, after which it could result in imprisonment or deportation.
- Saudi Arabia
- Death penalty possible Saudi Arabia enforces the death penalty for apostasy under Islamic law, with active prosecution and cases such as Hamza Kashgari and Ahmad Al Shamri.
Other laws in Turkey
- Blasphemy Laws
- Criminal offense
- Holocaust Denial
- No specific law
- Flag Desecration
- Criminal offense
- Conversion Therapy
- No ban
A visual reference compiled from Wikipedia’s law-by-country articles, not legal advice. Laws change and summaries simplify — check a primary source before relying on anything here.