The region comprising modern Turkey has a long and rich Islamic tradition stretching back to the Great Seljuk and Ottoman empires. The country has many historical mosques present throughout the cities and towns, including many in Istanbul. It is the main religion of the Turkish people, where the CIA World factbook states that 99.8% of Turkey's population are nominally Muslims. According religiosity polls 97.8% of the population is Muslim. Most Muslims in Turkey are Sunnis forming about 70-80%, and Alevis of the Shia-sect form about 20-30% of the Muslim population. There is also a Twelver Shia community which forms about 3% of the Muslim population.

The secularization of Turkey started in the society during the last years of Ottoman Empire and it was the most prominent and most controversial feature of Atatürk's reforms. Under his leadership, the caliphate—the supreme politico-religious office of Islam, and symbol of the sultan's claim to world leadership of all Muslims—was abolished. The secular power of the religious authorities and functionaries was reduced and eventually eliminated. The religious foundations were nationalized, and religious education was restricted and for a time prohibited. The influential and popular mystical orders of the dervish brotherhoods (Tariqa) also were suppressed.

Turkey (Turkish: Türkiye), known officially as the Republic of Turkey ( Türkiye Cumhuriyeti (help·info)), is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia (mostly in the Anatolian peninsula) and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe. Turkey is bordered by eight countries: Bulgaria to the northwest; Greece to the west; Georgia to the northeast; Armenia, Azerbaijan (the exclave of Nakhchivan) and Iran to the east; and Iraq and Syria to the southeast. The Mediterranean Sea and Cyprus are to the south; the Aegean Sea is to the west; and the Black Sea is to the north. The Sea of Marmara, the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles (which together form the Turkish Straits) demarcate the boundary between East Thrace and Anatolia; they also separate Europe and Asia.

Turkey is one of the six independent Turkic states. The vast majority of the population are Muslims. The country's official language is Turkish, whereas Kurdish and Zazaki languages are spoken by Kurds and Zazas, who constitute 18% of the population.

Justin Drew Bieber ( /ˈbiːbər/ BEE-bər, born March 1, 1994) is a Canadian Pop/R&B singer-songwriter, musician, and actor. Bieber was discovered in 2008 by Scooter Braun, who came across Bieber's videos on YouTube and later became his manager. Braun arranged for him to meet with Usher in Atlanta, Georgia, and Bieber was soon signed to Raymond Braun Media Group (RBMG), a joint venture between Braun and Usher, and then to a recording contract with Island Records offered by L.A. Reid. Bieber's debut single, "One Time", was released in 2009 and peaked in the top twenty in Canada and charted in the top thirty in several international markets. His debut album, the seven-track EP My World, followed in November 2009, and was soon certified platinum in the United States. He became the first artist to have seven songs from a debut album chart on the Billboard Hot 100.

Soner Çağaptay is the director of the Turkish Research Program at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy. He has a background in history, and is an expert on US-Turkish relations, Turkish politics, and Turkish nationalism.

Cagaptay received a Ph.D. in history from Yale University in 2003. He wrote his doctoral dissertation on Turkish nationalism.

Besides English and Turkish, his research languages include French, German, Spanish, Bosnian, Hebrew, Azerbaijani, and Ottoman Turkish.

Cagaptay is a senior fellow and director of the Turkish Research Program at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP). The Turkish Research Program, since its founding in 1995, has become an influential center for research and information on Turkey in Washington. The program conducts important research; hosts Policy Forum luncheons with guest speakers; releases numerous publications in the form of Policy Watches, Policy Notes, articles and opeds; and makes appearances in the media and Congressional hearings. In addition, they have established special programs such as the Turgut Ozal Memorial lecture series, which honors the late Turkish president by helping raise awareness of Turkish policy issues in the Washington community. Previous Ozal speakers include Bernard Lewis, Paul Wolfowitz, and Richard Holbrooke, among others. Another special program of WINEP's Turkish Research Program is the Turkish Military Fellowship, which is the only exchange between the Turkish military and a Washington-based think tank in existence. The goal of the program is to increase awareness of Turkish security issues in Washington.

Harold Rhode is a specialist on the Middle East who worked at the Office of Net Assessment, an in-house think tank for the Pentagon. Rhode retired in 2010 after 28 years as a Pentagon analyst.

Rhode has a PhD from Columbia in Islamic studies and Middle Eastern history. He speaks Persian, Hebrew, Arabic and Turkish. Rhode was studying in a university in Iran during the early stages of the revolution that brought Ayatollah Khomeni to power.

Rhode was a subject of a probe conducted by the Senate Intelligence Committee for a U.S. government-authorized meeting he and Larry Franklin had in Rome in late 2001 with Manucher Ghorbanifar, who was part of the Iran-Contra scandal.