Iran–Turkey relations Iran–Turkey relations The relations between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Republic of Turkey have been generally peaceful since the establishment of the modern states, but sometimes have also been strained. Iran and Turkey are major trade partners. Turkey and Iran have heavy mutual influence on each other, due to geographical proximity, linguistic and ethnic relations (e.g. Azerbaijanis, a Turkic people, are the second largest ethnicity in Iran and Kurds, an Iranic people, are the second largest ethnicity in Turkey) many common cultural aspects, shared empires, and conquering by such as the Parthians, Achaemenids, Sassanians, Seljuks, Safavids, Afsharids, Ottomans
Demographics of Turkey makes roughly 9.4% of the population. Religious groups according to estimates: The vast majority of the present-day Turkish people are Muslim and the most popular sect is the Hanafite school of Sunni Islam, which was officially espoused by the Ottoman Empire; according to the KONDA Research and Consultancy survey carried out throughout Turkey on 2007: 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