Modern Turkey was founded by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk as secular (Laiklik, Turkish adaptation of French Laïcité), i.e. without a state religion, or separate ethnic divisions/ identities. The concept of "minorities" has only been accepted by the Republic of Turkey as defined by the Treaty of Lausanne (1923) and thence strictly limited to Greeks, Jews and Armenians, only based on religious affiliation, excluding from the scope of the concept the ethnic identities of these minorities as of others such as the Kurds who make up 15% of the country; others include Assyrians of various Christian denominations, Alevis and all the others. Provisions of the Lausanne Treaty were extended to Bulgarians in Turkey by the Turkey-Bulgaria Friendship Treaty () of 18 October 1925. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Turkey), as of 2008, there were 89,000 Turkish citizens belonging to one of the three recognized minorities, two thirds of Armenian descent. On 18 June 2013, the Ankara 13th Circuit Administrative Court unanimously ruled that the Assyrians were included as beneficiaries of the Lausanne Treaty, so that Assyrians were allowed to open the first school teaching in their mother tongue.
Modern Turkey was founded by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk as secular (Laiklik, Turkish adaptation of French Laïcité), i.e. without a state religion, or separate ethnic divisions/ identities The concept of "minorities" has only been accepted by the Republic of Turkey as defined by the Treaty of Lausanne (1923) and thence strictly limited to Greeks, Jews and Armenians, only based on religious affiliation, excluding from the scope of the concept the ethnic identities of these minorities as of others such as the Kurds who make up 15% of the country; others include Assyrians of various Christian denominations, Alevis and all the others. Provisions of the Lausanne Treaty were extended to Bulgarians in Turkey by the Turkey-Bulgaria Friendship Treaty () of 18 October 1925. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Turkey), as of 2008, there were 89,000 Turkish citizens belonging to one of the three recognized minorities, two thirds of Armenian descent. On 18 June 2013, the Ankara 13th Circuit Administrative Court unanimously ruled that the Assyrians were included as beneficiaries of the Lausanne Treaty, so that Assyrians were allowed to open the first school teaching in their mother tongue.