Religious Beliefs of Kryashen (Baptized-Christian) Tatars as a Different Dimension of Turkish Culture.

Abstract

of Turkish Culture. Turkish Community has chosen Islam as a religion in general and Turkishculture has been formed with Islam mostly. However, Christianity has found an opportunity tospread among Turkish groups due to various reasons throughout the history as well. Within thisrespect, Christian Turks (Gagauses, Chuvashes, Kryashens –Baptized-Christian Tatars) have madeup a different dimension of Turkish culture. Kryashen Tatars who live in the Autonomy Republic ofTatarstan of Russian Federation today is of a great significance in terms of being one of the Turkishcommunities converted into Christianity from Islam and of Turkish religion history. AlthoughChristians, they have some common traditional beliefs and applications at the territory of Islamand all Turkish communities in their faith. Having a unity of origin, language and history withMuslim Tatars, Kryashen Tatars are being considered and presented as a separate ethnic group byRussian researchers in particular at the historical process which starts with baptism and carry onup to now. Taking all these mentioned above into consideration, the place, religion, history andbeliefs of Kryashen Tatars in Turkish religion history will be studied in the paper