The Ehli Beyt Scholars Association (, abbr. Ehla-Der) is the main Turkish Jaafari Shia organization founded on 31 May 2011 in Istanbul.Letter from the Ehli Beyt Scholars Association , 12 September 2012 Its present chairman is Kadir Akaras.Pinar Tremblay, "Could Iran-Saudi conflict provide Turkey 'graceful exit' from Syria?", Al-Monitor, 11 January 2016
The Twelver Shia community represents 3% of the Muslim population in Turkey, more than three million members, most of whom are ethnic Azeris who live in the eastern provinces neighbouring to Azerbaijan, more particularly in the Iğdır and Kars provinces, and in Istanbul in neighbourhoods close to the airport (Halkalı, Bakırkoÿ) and on the Asian side to the East of Kadiköy (Kayışdağı). Jean-Paul Burdy, "Les chiites ja’faris de Turquie, entre politique intérieure et diplomatie régionale", Observatoire de la vie politique turque, 22 August 2011 They have 70 mosques in Istanbul and some 300 throughout the country and receive no state funding for their mosques and imams as the Presidency of Religious Affairs (Diyanet) is exclusively Sunni.Pinar Tremblay, "Turkish Shiites fear growing hate crimes", Al-Monitor, 11 July 2014
References
External links Official Website