Although about 99 percent of the more than 50 million Turks are Muslims, the republic founded by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk in 1923 is resolutely secular.
a...
b. Although about 99 percent of over 50 million of the
c. Although about 99 percent of more than 50 million
d. Despite the fact that about 99 percent of more than 50 million
e. Despite the fact that about 99 percent of over 50 million


See....Here Contra is must as given sentence....So, now we need to choose b/w although and despite the fact that

Despite the fact that is almost always Verbose in Gmat.

From A,B,C...A is wrong because it uses the article the before....that is wrong because we know that 50 million turks but not specifically which 50 million ones....so A is wrong...
B is wrong because the comparator word is needed here rather than the prepositional word....

So, C is the correct answer

chaitanya.mehrotra wrote:Although about 99 percent of the more than 50 million Turks are Muslims, the republic founded by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk in 1923 is resolutely secular.
a...
b. Although about 99 percent of over 50 million of the
c. Although about 99 percent of more than 50 million
d. Despite the fact that about 99 percent of more than 50 million
e. Despite the fact that about 99 percent of over 50 million

OA A

Doubt: Why is C not correct?

C is changing the meaning...

chaitanya.mehrotra wrote:Although about 99 percent of the more than 50 million Turks are Muslims, the republic founded by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk in 1923 is resolutely secular.
a...
b. Although about 99 percent of over 50 million of the
c. Although about 99 percent of more than 50 million
d. Despite the fact that about 99 percent of more than 50 million
e. Despite the fact that about 99 percent of over 50 million

OA A

Doubt: Why is C not correct?

C is changing the meaning...

i found the following descriptions when searched on net:

Number1: IMO, C can definitely not be the answer.

Try replacing "more than 50 million Turks" by "people" -

Although about 99% of people are Muslims..., this seems awkward.

Try putting "the" now...

Although about 99% of the people are Muslims....., which sounds better.

Number 2: if we use "the," we are saying that there are only 50 million
Turks in the whole world; if we don't use "the," we are saying that there are possibly
more than 50 million Turks in the world.

A is the answer
I couldn't understand this reasoning at all...??

I am not clear either , lets ask a Expert to look into this question ?