foreign merchants in the eighteenth century (1721) and was outlawed by Mahmud I in 1748, although it slowly came back and Freemasons were exiled as part of a crackdown on the Bektashis in 1826. A Grand Orient was formed in 1909. Freemasonry was suppressed from 1935 to 1948. A schism occurred in 1964, with a small group of freemasons creating the Grand Lodge of Liberal Freemasons of Turkey, which later attached itself to the Grand Orient de France References External links Grand Lodge of Armenia Grand Lodge of Japan The Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of F. & A.M. of the Philippines Chula Lodge 9745 E.C. Thailand !Asia