Holidays & Observances in Turkey

Turkey is a country located between Europe and Asia. It has a rich cultural history, having been an important player in every period of history and having been occupied by many major empires. It has been culturally influenced by all of these different empires. Turkey technically inhabits both Europe and Asia, and its culture reflects this duality in every way. It is the perfect combination of western modernism and eastern traditionalism. Islam is practiced by almost all of the people in Turkey, but the government is not run the way most majority Muslim countries are. Separation of church and state is very important to the Turkish people, so Islamic law is kept out of the government and freedom of religion is encouraged. Holidays are also taken from both the east and the west, as can be seen in the celebrations of both the Gregorian New Year, and the New Year’s celebration popular with Islamic countries, Navruz.