Persians and Turks are not Arabs - Religion.

Persians are mostly Shia Muslims and Turks are Sunni. This schism occurred due to a succession crisis following the death of the Prophet Muhammad: on one side were the supporters of his friend Abu Bakr and on the other those who wanted his cousin Ali as their future leader. The former would proclaim himself the winner and his followers would call themselves Sunnis, while the Shia members of the family branch became an often persecuted minority.

The Persians adopted this religion after the Islamic conquest of Persia in the 7th century, since until then they were Zoroastrians or Mazdaists, the first monotheistic religion that clearly influenced Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Those who refused to convert to Islam fled to India, where their descendants are known as "Parsis". Among an overwhelming Shiite majority there are Sunni groups such as the Kurds, Arabs, Turkmen or Baluchis and Muslims who practice Sufism, the mystical branch of Islam. Among the religious minorities we find the Baha'is, Yaresanis, Mandaeans, Yazidis and several officially recognized groups that include Zoroastrians, Jews and Christians (among them Assyrians, Protestants, Armenians, Catholics...)

A small part of Turkish Muslims are Alevis (Shiites), Sufis, and there are also Christian minorities (Greek Orthodox, Armenians, Protestants, Assyrian Orthodox and Catholics), Jews (especially the Sephardim, descendants of the Jews expelled by the Catholic Monarchs) and Yazidis. The first religious beliefs in Turkey date back to pagan rituals with shamanic practices such as Tengrism or later the worship of the pantheons of Greek and Roman gods.

The role of Christianity was of paramount importance under both the Roman and Byzantine Empires, and this is not surprising since it was in Antioch (now Antakya) that “Christians” were first named as such. St. Peter established one of the first churches in the area inside a 13-metre-deep cave and St. Paul is a native of Tarsus, in the province of Mersin. The seven churches mentioned in the Book of Revelation refer to Turkish cities near the Aegean Sea and it is also in one of them, near Ephesus, that St. John fled from Jerusalem with the Virgin Mary after the crucifixion of Christ. Today the house that housed her is a shrine and a place of pilgrimage, as is Şanlıurfa in the south-east, a city connected to both Christianity and Islam since it is the birthplace of the Prophet Abraham, who according to the Koran rebuilt the Kaaba in Mecca with his son Ismail.