Hagia Sophia, originally built as a Byzantine cathedral in the 6th century, served as a Christian temple for over a millennium before being converted into a mosque following the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople in 1453.

In 1934, the secular Turkish Republic transformed Hagia Sophia into a museum, symbolizing coexistence and multi-faith practices, until President Erdogan reconverted it into a mosque in 2020, framing the move as a restoration of Islamic heritage.

The decision sparked international criticism, with UNESCO and Orthodox Christian institutions arguing it undermined Turkey’s commitment to preserving multicultural heritage and religious tolerance.

Critics contend that the reconversion prioritizes Islamic heritage over Hagia Sophia’s Byzantine Christian significance, raising concerns about the erosion of its multi-faith legacy.

Observers have noted that Erdogan’s move aligns with his political strategy to appeal to his Islamo-nationalist base amidst economic challenges and declining electoral support.

Erdogan framed the reconversion as a symbolic act tied to Turkey’s Islamic identity, likening it to the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople and emphasizing its significance for Muslim aspirations worldwide.

Arab intellectuals have debated the reconversion, with some viewing it as a symbolic assertion of Islamic identity against Western dominance, while others critique it as undermining secularism and pluralism.

The controversy has resonated deeply in the Arab world, where Erdogan’s move is seen as a reflection of broader regional trends in reclaiming Islamic heritage and identity.

However, critics argue that the decision alienates non-Muslim communities and undermines principles of coexistence, raising questions about Turkey’s commitment to safeguarding its diverse historical legacy.

Hagia Sophia, originally built as a Byzantine cathedral in the 6th century, served as a Christian temple for over a millennium before being converted into a mosque following the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople in 1453.

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In ATOR called an insignificant amount of €25 for the entrance to the mosque of Hagia Sophia
In ATOR warned tourists about the rise in price of tickets to the palace-museums of Istanbul
A rise in prices for tourist services in Istanbul is inevitable due to the weak position of the local currency - the lira.
This was stated in an interview with Gazeta.Ru Vice President of ATOR Arthur Muradyan, commenting on the decision of the authorities to make a visit to the Hagia Sophia mosque for foreigners paid.
From January 15, the entrance will cost €25.
“From the point of view of tourists, the amount of 25 euros, and for a family of two or four people it is 50-100 euros, can not be called some significant expenditure.
On the other hand, of course, some tourists will think about spending money on visiting this attraction.
Of course, it is a landmark for Istanbul, and I think that the Turkish authorities have approached carefully to determine the amount of fees for visiting this architectural monument, ” Muradian said.
In his opinion, following the Hagia Sophia mosque, the authorities can raise prices for entrance tickets to other museums.
“The rise in prices for tourist services is inevitable to some extent due to the not very good fate of the lira, which we have seen in the last few years.
And, of course, tourists should be ready to increase the cost of services related to the use of the tourism infrastructure of Istanbul, ” said ATOR Vice President.
On January 12, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Turkey reported that the entrance to the Hagia Sophia mosque in Istanbul for foreign citizens from January 15, 2024 will cost €25.
The ministry explained that when setting the fee for visiting the mosque, they were guided by the recommendations of UNESCO.
Hagia Sophia, which is now called the Great Mosque of Hagia Sophia, was erected in the 6th century under the emperor Justinian and for more than a thousand years remained the largest Christian temple in the world.
In 1453, after the capture of Constantinople by the Ottoman Turks, Saint Sophia was converted into a mosque.
In 1934, the temple was given the status of a museum, it retained both Christian and Muslim decoration.
In July 2020, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan signed a decree on the resumption of Muslim worship in Hagia Sophia.
Entrance to the mosque was free for all visitors, including tourists.
Earlier it became known about the destruction of a mosque in Gaza after Israeli shelling.
What do you think?
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How did Hagia Sophia become important for Muslims?

Sultan Mehmed II converted Hagia Sophia into a mosque,making it a key religious site for Muslims for centuries.

No--In 1934, Ataturk turned it into a museum, making it a major tourist attraction and secular symbol in Turkey.

When was Hagia Sophia built and under whose rule?

Why is Hagia Sophia considered one of the greatest buildings in history?

Served as the central church of Byzantine Christianity,

In 1934, the secular Turkish Republic transformed Hagia Sophia into a museum, symbolizing coexistence and multi-faith practices, until President Erdogan reconverted it into a mosque in 2020, framing the move as a restoration of Islamic heritage.

Title:

Content: After Hagia Sophia, Turkey converts a second ancient Byzantine church into a mosque

Hundreds of worshippers filled the narrow streets of Istanbul's Fatih district on Friday to hear the sounds of Friday prayers ringing out from the newly inaugurated Kariye Mosque.

Once known as the Chora Church, the site spent the last 79 years as a museum. But it is now the latest structure to be converted back into a mosque by the government of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, following the conversion of Hagia Sophia in 2020. While viewed as a triumph by many Turkish Muslims, the Greek Orthodox Church has decried it as an "ill-advised decision" that "makes a mockery of the Turkish government's commitment to religious tolerance and religious freedom."

Chora's conversion was announced shortly after Hagia Sophia's, but its opening for prayer was delayed by years of restoration work.

The showing for the first Friday prayers at Kariye was relatively quiet compared to Hagia Sophia, which drew hundreds of thousands who filled the streets with prayer rugs for blocks and blocks away from the building. By contrast, the crowd on Friday was relatively average for a mosque in one of Istanbul's more religiously conservative neighborhoods, where Friday worshippers frequently spill out onto the streets.

Both the Chora Church and Hagia Sophia are 4th-century Byzantine constructions. They spent nearly a millennium as Christian holy sites before being converted to mosques by the Ottomans after their conquest of Constantinople in the 15th century. Despite their conversions, they remained revered by Orthodox Christians. After the founding of a secular Turkish Republic in the early 20th century, the decision was made for both to be neither mosque nor church but simply museums.

"Both Hagia Sophia and Chora embodied Byzantine and Ottoman pasts, and they became symbols of co-existence and multi-faith living practices. Their conversion fundamentally implies a hierarchy, prioritizing the Islamic past over all other layers, Greek Orthodox, Armenian, Jewish, Syriac, et al," Dr. Özgür Kaymak, a lecturer and researcher on minority rights at Istanbul's MEF University, told Religion News Service in an email.

Rededicating the sites as mosques is more than just a status change. According to Islamic tradition, artwork of human figures are forbidden in places of prayer, while in Orthodox Churches, icons of Christ, saints and other biblical figures are a defining feature.

In Hagia Sophia, the mosaics of Jesus and Mary have been covered with curtains since the conversion. While Erdoğan promised Hagia Sophia would remain fully accessible and free to all visitors, Turkey reneged on that earlier this year, reimposing an entrance fee on tourists and relegating them to the upper level, while the main floor is exclusive to Muslim worshippers.

Observers have also criticized the Turkish Directorate of Religion's caretaking of the site, noting damage that did not exist when it was under the purview of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

Though Chora is significantly smaller than Hagia Sophia, it is home to some of the best-preserved examples of late-Byzantine art, including mosaics, icons and frescoes, and is considered a UNESCO World Heritage site.

"For us it's a very important place because it remembers our culture and our traditions here," Father Evangelos Markantonis, an Orthodox priest who was leading a group of theology students to Chora on Friday, told Religion News Service.

"Though we cannot venerate as Orthodox Christians, we have to try to find things we can be united on. Only with dialogue and good deeds can we continue our lives," Markantonis, who is also a professor at the University of Athens, said when asked about the controversy.

Erdoğan had long refused calls from his right to convert churches like Hagia Sophia and Chora, telling supporters in 2018 to fill the nearby Sultan Ahmet Mosque (also known in English as the Blue Mosque) before they talked about needing to pray in Hagia Sophia.

Nonetheless, he made an about-turn in 2020.

"My dear nation, the conquest of Istanbul and the conversion of the Hagia Sophia into a Mosque are among the most glorious chapters in Turkish history," Erdoğan said at the time in a speech inaugurating the Hagia Sophia as a mosque.

"This is the most honorable day that Islam has been looking forward to, Greek Constantinople has become Turkish Istanbul," he added, quoting the Turkish poet Nazim Hikmet.

"The resurrection of Hagia Sophia heralds the liberation of the al-Aqsa Mosque. The resurrection of Hagia Sophia is the footsteps of the will of Muslims across the world to come out of the interregnum," Erdoğan said in his concluding remarks.

Chora's opening as the Kariye Mosque comes just weeks after Erdoğan's Justice and Development Party (AKP) suffered its largest electoral defeat in two decades during Turkey's nationwide municipal elections.

"The recent conversion of Chora into a mosque may be due to Erdoğan's many problems, including his geopolitical power politics, his appeal to religio-nationalism to revive his electoral popularity after the March elections or his tactic to divert attention from Turkey's economic downturn," Kaymak said.

Many analysts have attributed the loss to AKP bleeding votes to the more Islamist-leaning New Welfare Party, which has pressured Erdogan over his response to the Israel-Hamas war and humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip.

Muslim worshippers at the mosque on Friday said they viewed its rededication as an Islamic site to be a national win for Turkey.

"This mosque is one of the symbols of the Conquest. We are proud and happy. There are very beautiful frescoes inside. They were also nicely renovated before they were closed. May it be good for our country and our nation," a bystander, Ahmet Öteyüzoğlu, told Turkish media.

"Thank God for these days. Not everyone has the opportunity in their lifetime," another bystander named Mehmet Çelik told the Turkish news service Anadolu Agency, in reference to having been able to pray at both the rededicated Hagia Sophia and Kariye Mosques.

However, Greece, the U.S. State Department and Orthodox Christian institutions worldwide have all criticized the decision to revert the structure into a mosque.

"I want to publicly express my intense dissatisfaction, interpreting the feelings of all Greek women and men, for the completely unnecessary conversion of a historic Byzantine temple, the Monastery of Chora, into a mosque. It is, I believe, an action that offends the rich history of Istanbul itself as a crossroads of cultures," Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said shortly before leaving for Turkey for a planned meeting with Erdogan.

"We encourage the Turkish government to preserve and ensure access to sites and buildings that have hosted different religious communities in a way that respects their diverse histories," a State Department spokesperson said in response to questions from Greek media.

"The Turkish government's appropriation of both as the property of one faith group not only constitutes yet another sign of that government's contempt for Turkey's rich Orthodox Christian heritage but further imperils the religious freedom of the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the remaining Christians of that land," the Archons of the Ecumenical Patriarchate said in a statement.

© Religion News Service

No--In 1934, Ataturk turned it into a museum, making it a major tourist attraction and secular symbol in Turkey.

What political motivations influenced Erdogan's decision to reconvert Hagia Sophia?

Erdogan's decision was influenced by Turkey's Islamic resurgence.

Why did Erdogan restore Hagia Sophia as a mosque in 2020?

Because he wanted to end its 86-year museum status to return it to its original role as a mosque.

The decision sparked international criticism, with UNESCO and Orthodox Christian institutions arguing it undermined Turkey’s commitment to preserving multicultural heritage and religious tolerance.

Title:

Content: Hagia Sophia must once again become a place of Christian worship, demands the American Council for the Liberation of Hagia Sophia.
For a start, according to the organization, it is possible to allow liturgies in Hagia Sophia, preserving its museum status.
Although Christians still perceive this cathedral captured together with Constantinople in 1453 as one of the most important shrines.
In case of refusal, the “Council ” intends to appeal to the ECHR.
However, the situation around Hagia Sophia is much more complicated; the observer of IA REGNUM Stanislav Stremidlovsky analyzes the recent events around the former main temple of Byzantium.
Erhan Elaldı – Anadolu Agency
The 564th anniversary of the conquest of Constantinople was celebrated by the Hagia Sophia as a museum.
What is the 565th anniversary?
The head of the “Council ”, American politician Chris Spirou, has already been declared a provocateur by the Turkish authorities.
Today, when Erdogan is increasingly moving away from “his overseas partners ” at least in terms of the desired image of the president, and the new owner of the White House pays much more attention to Middle Eastern Christians than Obama, the situation is clearly changing.
There are already hints that Hagia Sophia from the museum will become a mosque.
At the same time, Erdogan ’ s victory in the last referendum made the president a debtor of domestic Anatolia (at least she believes so), who gave him their votes.
The Anatolian Youth Association strongly opposes any manifestations of non-Muslim faith in Turkish society.
For three years now, they have been trying to make Hagia Sophia a mosque.
And although Erdogan is in no hurry to meet, the Association expects decisive measures from him.
Where the Turkish president is inclined and what Hagia Sophia, cathedral or mosque can become, read here: Internal Anatolia, who supported Erdogan, demands to make Hagia Sophia a mosque
Read other articles by Stanislav Stremidlovsky on the relationship of world religions.

How did Muslims and Orthodox Christians react to the reconversion?

Who was angered by the reconversion of Hagia Sophia in July 2020?

Critics contend that the reconversion prioritizes Islamic heritage over Hagia Sophia’s Byzantine Christian significance, raising concerns about the erosion of its multi-faith legacy.

Title:

Content: Erdogan invited the leaders of Muslim states to the first prayer in Hagia Sophia
13: 26 22 July Kiev, Ukraine
According to the plan, on July 24, the first prayer will be held in Hagia Sophia in Turkey, after it was decided to convert the building of the Orthodox church into a mosque.
The leaders of many Muslim countries are invited to take part in it.
Erdogan ’ s invitation came from Qatar and Azerbaijan.
The remaining heads of state have not yet responded to the Turkish president.
Remind me!
The Turkish government decided to change the status of the architectural monument and the Orthodox Church of St. Sophia and convert the room into a mosque.
The Pope said that this situation causes him grief.
The Patriarch of Ecumenical and Constantinople, who recently received a great number of churches on the territory of Ukraine, and did not demand the transfer of the museum to the Diocese of Constantinople in a timely manner, said that the creation of a mosque in the museum building can be negatively met in the Orthodox world.
It is expected that the first prayer in the new mosque will be attended by about 1000-1500 people.
All quarantine conditions will be met, participants in prayer will be given masks, and disinfectants will be placed everywhere in the cathedral so that people can treat their hands and their prayer mats.
During the prayer, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will also be present in the cathedral, along with Turkish ministers, leaders of the ruling Justice and Development Party.
As previously reported, all the frescoes and mosaics at the time of prayer will be covered with curtains.
On July 10, a Turkish court ruled that the decision to convert the mosque into a museum in 1934 was illegal.
Erdogan immediately signed a decree on assigning Hagia Sophia the status of a mosque.
The move has sparked international criticism and concern, including from Greece, the United States and Russia, as well as UNESCO and Pope Francis.
Turkey insists that the status of the architectural monument is its internal affair.

How did Muslims and Orthodox Christians react to the reconversion?

What political motivations influenced Erdogan's decision to reconvert Hagia Sophia?

Erdogan's decision was influenced by Turkey's Islamic resurgence.

Who was angered by the reconversion of Hagia Sophia in July 2020?

Observers have noted that Erdogan’s move aligns with his political strategy to appeal to his Islamo-nationalist base amidst economic challenges and declining electoral support.

What kind of domestic reaction did Erdogan's reconversion of Hagia Sophia receive?

What political motivations influenced Erdogan's decision to reconvert Hagia Sophia?

Erdogan's decision was influenced by Turkey's Islamic resurgence.

Erdogan framed the reconversion as a symbolic act tied to Turkey’s Islamic identity, likening it to the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople and emphasizing its significance for Muslim aspirations worldwide.

Title:

Content: Roundup of news from December 30, 2021
Erdogan the Conqueror
The Turkish president compared the transformation of Hagia Sophia into a mosque with the fall of Constantinople.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan seeks to try on the kaftan of Sultan Mehmed II, whose troops captured Constantinople in 1453.
In this regard, he, summing up the year, compared the transformation of the Hagia Sophia into a mosque with the fall of Tsargrad, reports the UOJ with reference to the publication “Vima Ortodoksiya ”.
According to the head of Turkey, the transformation of Hagia Sophia into a mosque is “as important ” for the Turks as the fall of the capital of the Byzantine Empire.
However, at the same time, many pay attention to the fact that the Turkish lira in the outgoing year fell strongly against the dollar, and this seriously hit the Turkish economy.
Responding to the criticism, Erdogan said he would “lead his people to what they deserve ” and stressed that he would“ apply the laws of Islam. ”
Thus, the Turkish authorities seek to distract their citizens from economic problems by proclaiming the Islamization of Turkey to the detriment of its secular status.
The economy of Turkey is not in the best condition, but Erdogan was again able to win the Hagia Sophia.
This is what officials in Ankara are thinking.
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What political motivations influenced Erdogan's decision to reconvert Hagia Sophia?

Erdogan's decision was influenced by Turkey's Islamic resurgence.

Arab intellectuals have debated the reconversion, with some viewing it as a symbolic assertion of Islamic identity against Western dominance, while others critique it as undermining secularism and pluralism.

Title:

Content: Monday, 15 January 2024 09: 32 GMT
Intellectuals and Loyalty
(MENAFN- Al Watan) Many Arab intellectuals, through a huge collection of sayings, dialogues and reviews, labored to create a special container that can contain Western intellectual theories and reproduce them in Islamic and Arab forms and contents, not content with conveying those intellectual theories as put forward by the European Enlightenment and beyond. Some of these theories were conveyed exactly as they are, but the reaction resisted and opposed it, through individuals, religious entities and other conservative entities, which stressed the need to evoke the intellectual and theoretical elements of Arab and Islamic or to be satisfied with them without introducing anything else with them.
The use of Western tools and mechanisms of criticism in Arab and Islamic artistic and intellectual issues was the largest door to the entry of Western European Enlightenment thought in contemporary Arab culture, which developed a debate over a century and an increase, from the beginning of the twentieth century until today, enabled the Arab mind to add knowledge bridges that can form a two-way movement with Orientalism, which came a few centuries after the transfer of knowledge to Europe through an Arab and Islamic medium.
Perhaps the debate with Orientalism in the critical aspects, generated a cognitive break with Arab culture among some Arab intellectuals, which led to the opposite reaction, which led those intellectuals who dealt with Western culture, to the process of finding evidence for those Western theories in the Arab and Islamic heritage, so that they can overcome the unacceptability and unpalatability of the existence of a solid Western theory within Arab knowledge. It is appropriate for the Arab who rejects the idea of   a religious scientist or a conservative intellectual that it is alien and urgent to Arab and Islamic thought, hence, for example, the attempt to combine ((democracy)) the original theory in European liberal thought, Shura that original Islamic concept, and came as well as an attempt to find knowledge documents for the question of (socialism). A great example of this, as an indication of the existence of this attempt to link, whether at the level of major theories in European thought, or its branch of small molecular questions, which came into contact with Arab and Islamic thought, or tried to penetrate through the same intellectuals who were trying to move to make a scientific and cognitive renaissance, leading to an Arab civilization renaissance, regardless of whether they were injured or not. Get in the way?!
Here, I do not misjudge our old and modern intellectuals, as some studies have done or as some intellectuals described as conservatives have done, not to mention ideologues, but I say it is a necessary level of civilizational interaction in its cognitive aspect, which is modified and corrected, or maybe it can be taken fully, through dialogue and review, away from the accusation, and above all this. I consider it a serious attempt to get closer to this (other) culture and to know it from its depth. Saad Al-Sawyan referred to this issue indirectly, when he broke the question of plagiarism of the ignorant poetry, and refuted it systematically, by decoding Nabati poetry and giving it documents indicative of the ignorant poetry, and explained the systematic disorder of Taha Hussein His imitation of the methodology of (Margaleus), (Millman Barry), and (Albert Lord), applied to the epics of the Greeks, which differ in form and content from the Arabic poem, by this transfer by Taha Hussein, who faced many controversies, and the unique methodology followed by Saad al-Suwayan, we reached the depth of Western theories in criticism, inference and analysis, but we did not She did not, as evidence of the critical project against the idea of plagiarism of ignorant poetry.
These critical and comparative cognitive processes can be taken in order to make approaches to discover vast areas of our Arab thought that are not easily discovered or revealed to the emerging intellectual generation, as well as a way to calibrate the power of our idea, and a way to detect the falsehood, intrusion and derelict of some ideas that may contribute to the disruption of the Arab mind from keeping pace with the times, and the leadership of contemporary civilization.
Considering the three determinants of culture as described by Mahmoud Shaker in his entire speech about the method in his book ((A Message on the Way to Our Culture), (2009), which is language, religion and history, we find that it is the cognitive basis for launching any intellectual project, in any scientific field or even development, and this foundation is not based on one of these determinants alone, but must be based on them. Taken together as a cognitive condition that cannot be waived, to start what can be called an Arab or Islamic intellectual project, but to reject intellectual projects based on a petition from the Western critical theory, which is based on one of these determinants excluding the rest, is wrong, and is supposed to be accepted, discussed, and critiqued by the criticism that tries to cooperate with. The correct theory within it, and the denial of what may disturb the originality of the Arab and Islamic idea, but at the same time does not deprive us of the nobility of the contemporary, which the Western theory aptly represents today, because of their epistemological leadership.
Mahmoud Shaker has published his important book (Mutanabbi), (1987) [which was first published in a special issue of the magazine of the extract, in January 1936], with words later published in a separate book, which we referred to earlier, and was intended to reveal the history that led to the corruption of literary, political, social and religious life - from his point of view - and its origins. The curricula that were and still are prevalent in literary and cultural life, which Shaker rejected, and set himself a special approach, his book (Mutanabbi), (1936) was an application to him in one way.
When you put the book Taha Hussein, in ((Jahili poetry)), (1926), with my books Mahmoud Shaker, (Mutanabbi), (1936), and Saad Sawyan, ((Arabian desert), (2010), both responded in his way to the question of plagiarism of Jahili poetry when Taha Hussein, you will find the best example of the disparity in the employment of the three determinants of culture, and different angles, between different angles. Taha Hussein ’ s obedience is almost complete, Mahmoud Shaker ’ s is perfect, Saad al-Suwayan is free, and if we compare the Western theory, we will find that the three were also two parties and a middle, Hussein ’ s is perfect, and Shaker ’ s is a complete break, and al-Suwayan ’ s is free. Hence, the idea of the article is a question of belonging to the intellectual and his loyalists. His mother ’ s culture, or his alienation from it.
The majority of the alienation of the Arab intellectual, or as expressed by Josiah Royce ("disloyalty") as in (philosophy of loyalty, 1930), is caused by the inability of the intellectual towards his society, because of the gap between the status of society and what the intellectual wishes for that society, which loses him the link to society reality, traditions and heritage, which generates a state of (disloyalty / alienation). Thought from outside its system and its surroundings, not in the form of positive and free interaction, but in the form of attracting a thought that has achieved success in an environment and heritage radically different from its environment and heritage.
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NEWSLETTER

What political motivations influenced Erdogan's decision to reconvert Hagia Sophia?

Erdogan's decision was influenced by Turkey's Islamic resurgence.

The controversy has resonated deeply in the Arab world, where Erdogan’s move is seen as a reflection of broader regional trends in reclaiming Islamic heritage and identity.

Title:

Content: Earthquakes and rampant inflation: Why did Erdogan win again?
Font Size:
Source: Hong Kong 01
Author: Liu Yanting
On May 28, Turkey held the second round of the presidential election.
Although Turkey's Supreme Electoral Council is not expected to announce the official results until June 1, according to preliminary election statistics, with 99.59% of the votes cast, the incumbent President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has 51.91% of the votes, defeating his opponent Kemal Kılçdaroğlu with 48.09% of the votes. Determine the rate of re-election.
This election has caused global concern.
First, people are curious about whether there will be a regime change in Turkey, changing its fierce cross-border diplomatic style.
Looking back over the past two years, since the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian war in 2022, Turkey has repeatedly played a fierce swing beyond the size of medium-sized countries, including facilitating the Russian-Ukrainian foreign ministers' talks in March 2022, blocking Finland and Sweden's accession to NATO in May, and announcing the "green light" in June, leading Russia to sign the Black Sea Food Agreement in July, and negotiating energy cooperation with Russia at the CICA summit in October. For the first time since the start of the war, senior officials have talked about launching a new round of military action in Syria, implying that it may threaten Russia ’ s and Iran ’ s geopolitical interests.
In between, the outside world is surprised by Erdoğan ’ s active actions, and also uncertain about Turkey ’ s opportunistic diplomatic style.
Second, Erdogan suffered two major shocks before the election, causing the outside world to generally not optimistic about his re-election, one is in 2022 for months to break through 80% of the serious inflation, the second is the earthquake disaster.
Among them, Turkey ’ s high inflation is the sequela of the 2018 economic crisis. The deep reason is that Turkey ’ s long-term economic overheating and political interest rate cuts have caused a linked financial storm after the Federal Reserve raised interest rates in Turkey. He lost power in big cities such as Istanbul and Ankara.
And the earthquake will also affect voters' support for Erdogan.
On February 6, 2023, a 7.8-magnitude earthquake occurred in southeastern Turkey, killing nearly 50,000 people, and economic losses are even more incalculable.
After the disaster Erdoğan once faced criticism, public opinion criticized its failure to improve the phenomenon of uneven development and urban poverty, resulting in old buildings with low earthquake resistance being vulnerable to a strong earthquake, and fragile buildings are often difficult to get away from the collusion of officials and businessmen, cutting corners, the ruling Erdoğan and the positive development party are to blame.
However, from the results of this election, although the gap between the two people is less than 5%, but Krechidaloğlu is finally a step away from the door, showing that whether it is high inflation or an earthquake, can not prevent Erdogan from being re-elected.
In addition to the lack of integration of Turkish opposition forces, Erdogan ’ s success in mobilizing the new situation of “Turkey ’ s rise ” is also key.
The opposition is not well integrated.
First of all, although the polls of the Republican People's Party (CHP) party leader Krechidar Oulu once exceeded Erdoğan ’ s, making many foreign media boldly predict that Turkey will soon change, but focusing on the current state of Turkish politics, Erdoğan ’ s positive party is the strongest force, and the opposition ’ s long-term mountainous and independent government has not only offset the integration efforts to challenge Erdoğan, but also to some extent.
Looking at the interaction of Turkish opposition parties in recent years, there have been obvious signs of integration until the 2017 constitutional referendum.
At that time, Erdoğan greatly expanded the presidential power and removed the obstacles to re-election in the system, causing a collective panic among the opposition forces. The four major opposition parties, the Republican People's Party (İYü), the Good Party (İYü), the Happiness Party (SP) and the Democratic Party (DP), jointly formed the "State Union" (Millet İttifakı), advocating the restoration of the parliamentary system and abolition of the executive presidential system, hoping to curb the positive party and Erdoğan. Together with the Democratic and Progressive Party (DEVA), they formed the "Six Party Round Table" (Altılı Masa), which is seeking to jointly launch a presidential candidate representing the opposition forces and compete with Erdogan in 2023.
After all, Erdogan was the president at the time, with political resources such as the media and the judiciary, enough to crack down on various opposition forces, such as Ekrem İmamoğlu, the mayor of Istanbul from the Republican People ’ s Party, who was originally highly polled and regarded as a star of tomorrow enough to end Erdoğan ’ s 20 years in power, was sentenced to more than two years in prison in December 2022 for “suspected insult to the Supreme Electoral Council. ” He lost the right to run for president.
After Imam Oulu was forced out, the "six-party round table" did not immediately integrate new candidates, but entangled in ideological scuffles, political spoils distribution, until March 2023, it was determined to nominate CHP party leader Krechidar Oulu, but this nomination was initially not supported by the good party, the latter also threatened to withdraw from the "six-party round table".
After many days of consultations and political exchanges, Krechdarolu agreed to have Ankara Mayor Mansur Yavaş and Imam Oulu as vice presidents, and the good party agreed to stay at the "six-party round table" and support the nomination of Krechdarolu for election.
In fact, from the point of view of the composition of the structure, the only ideology that can unite the "six-party round table" is against Erdogan.
Because the Republican People's Party with the most seats is the centre-left pro-European secularism party, the Happiness Party is a Eurosceptic conservative party with Islamism, the Democratic Party is a centre-right nationalist party, the Democratic and Progressive Party is a centre-right pro-European party, the Future Party is a right-wing pro-European party, and the Good Party is a centre-right nationalist party.
In short, the parties have a combination of ideologies that straddle Islamism and secularism, and basically if Erdoğan and the AKP had not been in power for too long, the parties would have no incentive to integrate.
However, even if it is reluctantly integrated, the "six-party round table" is still divided, otherwise it will not be until two months before the election to determine the nomination of candidates; and after the confirmation of the presidential candidate, the "six-party round table" broke out in a new civil war on the list of parliamentary candidates, all parties want to strive for more security seats distribution, resulting in the continued difficulty of the list.
All these things are quite chilling in the eyes of Turkish voters: Erdoğan may have a monopoly on power and love the position of power, but the opposition forces are also only interested in the division of territory and political division of spoils, and have no intention of changing Turkey's development predicament.
Under the balance of the two, or some voters who are tired of Erdoğan, after going through a thousand turns of heart, they chose to continue to vote for the positive party and Erdoğan, instead of supporting the opposition forces whose governing ability is unknown and whose positions are mixed, resulting in the eventual defeat of Krechdar Olu by a small margin.
How Erdoğan mobilised the "rise of Turkey"
In addition to the weak integration of opposition forces and the failure to gather enough political energy, Erdoğan and the Positive Development Party are still able to gather support and call for votes under the impact of high inflation and earthquake disasters, which is also the key to the defeat of Krechdar Olu.
According to the results of the poll, voters in large cities whose wealth has been severely eroded by high inflation supported Krechdarolu in the election, including the top three cities of Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir and Adana, the fifth largest city; however, Bursa, the sixth largest city of Gaziantep, and the seventh largest city of Konya. (Konya) is still supporting Erdoğan, and Gaziantep is still the hardest hit area of the 2023 earthquake, but voters still vote for the current president who has been denounced by public opinion, and it is clear that Erdoğan still has a certain degree of political energy.
Looking at this source of energy, it is obvious that it is not all the economic achievements that have been downhill.
Looking back at Erdoğan ’ s path to power, he experienced high economic growth in Turkey during his term of office, which can escort him to power.
From 2008 to 2013, developed markets such as the United States, Europe and Japan adopted a number of rounds of quantitative easing policies, international "hot money" poured into emerging markets including Turkey, stimulating the latter's economic growth. Erdogan took advantage of the momentum to promote easy credit, ask the central bank to continue to cut interest rates, and promote large-scale infrastructure projects. On the altar alone, no one can resist.
However, after the US Federal Reserve released a possible interest rate hike in 2013, foreign investment was greatly withdrawn, and emerging market currencies, including the lira, began to depreciate, and Turkey ’ s economic growth continued to slow down. And...
In the process of coping with the crisis, Erdoğan obviously wants to sacrifice prices and preserve economic growth, so he used extreme economic means and insisted on cutting interest rates in the face of high inflation.
The result, while maintaining economic growth to a certain extent, has led to a sharp depreciation of the lira, soaring prices, a near collapse of the bond market, and widespread protests in major cities such as Istanbul.
But looking at Erdoğan ’ s political actions in the past 10 years, it can be seen that he has begun to actively mobilize public support in the military, historical traditions, and diplomatic fields of major powers to fill the “Turkish rise ” narrative under the slowdown in economic growth and make up for his political loss.
As far as the diplomatic tradition after the Cold War is concerned, Turkey is an intermediate power anchored in the Western world and, with its strategic position across Eurasia, moves among different groups of countries.
However, after the outbreak of the Arab Spring in 2010, the outside world saw a more "eastern" and "military power" Turkey: on the Egyptian issue, its support for the Muslim Brotherhood, its involvement in the local political situation; on the battlefield of Syria and Libya, it has successively sent troops to intervene in the civil war there since 2016, and successfully achieved certain results. In the Gulf field, Turkey and Iran have maintained close interaction with Qatar, to a certain extent, prompting the 2017 Qatar severance storm, but because Turkey and Iran insisted on not retreating, the final storm ended with Saudi concessions in 2021, and Turkey successfully maintained its political achievements in the Gulf.
Of course, Turkey's foreign military operations are not all fruitful results.
Taking the Syrian battlefield as an example, Turkey launched four military operations against Syria: the Euphrates Shield from 2016 to 2017, the Olive Branch in 2018, the Peace Spring in 2019 and the Spring Shield in 2020.
Since the "olive branch" operation, the Turkish army has not only attacked the Kurdish forces, but also exchanged fire with the Syrian government forces supported by the Russian side, causing strong dissatisfaction in Moscow.
After many unsuccessful coordination, the Russian army was brazenly engaged with Turkey in 2020, resulting in the scribbled end of the "spring shield", and Turkey can only be forced to obey the Russian-led order in northern Syria.
However, under the propaganda of the Erdogan government, Turkey is not clearly aware that Turkey lost to Russia, but to see the Turkish army fighting in northern Syria in order to fight terrorism, which is very encouraging for nationalists and patriotic people.
In addition, in the historical tradition, Erdogan ’ s most classic action is to announce in July 2020 the abolition of the 1934 cabinet decree, the end of the 86 years of Hagia Sophia ’ s museum years, and the restoration of its mosque status.
Although this has caused many Western countries to criticize, but Erdoğan is not without the basis of public opinion, because in the 2015 capture of Junstenburg memorial ceremony, many Turks have held morning prayers in the museum square, in 2018, the Turkish Islamic Association is publicly applied to hold worship in the museum, although it was finally rejected, but has attracted a lot of public support.
Therefore, Erdogan's decision to "liberate St. Sophia" is aimed at the Islamic resurgence in Turkey in recent years, hoping to draw the support of anti-Kemalist voters.
And in the great power diplomatic field, Turkey's action is not to be said, in addition to the neighboring Central Asia and the Middle East, the Russian-Ukrainian war under various violent swings across Eurasia, are Erdogan's excellent election materials.
Taking the March 2022 Russian-Ukrainian Foreign Minister ’ s talks in Turkey and the landing of the Black Sea Food Agreement in July as an example, Turkish state media vigorously promoted Erdogan ’ s “peacemaker ” role; as for blocking Finland and Sweden from joining NATO, Turkish state media used Erdogan ’ s“ defense of national interests ”, “no fear of offending the West ” and“ combating Kurdish terrorism ”.
Of course, under the burden of economic decline and governance for many years, the narrative situation of mobilizing military, historical traditions and great power diplomacy can play a role in Erdoğan ’ s election, which can only be determined by the election results.
Judging from the results of 51.91% to 48.09%, although the above actions did not create a brilliant victory, they were enough to defeat the opposition forces and guarantee Erdogan another five-year term, which obviously still has some effect.
However, Turkey ’ s high economic growth has ended, and how to buffer Turkey ’ s economic storm and find new solutions outside of “Erdoğan ’ s economics ” are difficult issues that cannot be solved in the short term.
After the election, Erdoğan ’ s challenge continued.
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How did Muslims and Orthodox Christians react to the reconversion?

What political motivations influenced Erdogan's decision to reconvert Hagia Sophia?

Erdogan's decision was influenced by Turkey's Islamic resurgence.

However, critics argue that the decision alienates non-Muslim communities and undermines principles of coexistence, raising questions about Turkey’s commitment to safeguarding its diverse historical legacy.

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Content: [ditty_news_ticker id="27897"] Video Shows Fragments Falling from the Dome of Hagia Sophia - Orthodox Christian Laity

Video Shows Fragments Falling from the Dome of Hagia Sophia

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Source: Greek Reporter

A still from a recently released video shows visitors rushing to take cover as fragments fall from the dome of Hagia Sophia. Credit: Daily Motion/BirGün

A video from 2022 that came to light recently shows fragments falling on visitors from the dome of Hagia Sophia, the former epicenter of Christian worship at Constantinople, today’s Istanbul.

The footage released by the Turkish newspaper, BirGün, raises serious questions over the safety of the former Orthodox Christian cathedral, now a mosque.

BirGün notably quoted officials as saying that “pieces are falling from the roof, due to the humidity created by the crowd, but no precautions are being taken”.

The president of the Turkish Art History Association, Serif Yasar, argued for restoration of the monument as soon as possible, suggesting that “If Hagia Sophia is not restored, it will collapse with the first earthquake.”

The monument was restored as a mosque three years ago after serving as a museum from 1935-2020 and has since received 21 million visitors, according to Turkey’s tourism and culture minister.

Yasar added that when the church was a museum, the scientific council overseeing it urged that groups of no more than 25 people should be allowed to enter the building at any one time.

This enormous lift in visitation has likely brought to the forefront the need for repairs and it was indeed reported in September that the Turkish government had decided to start long-term maintenance of Hagia Sophia.

Turkey to implement visitor management policy at Hagia Sophia

In early October Turkish historian Ilber Ortayli expressed fears that the large number of visitors to Hagia Sophia could lead to a catastrophic structural failure if not addressed immediately.

Writing in the Hürriyet daily, Ortayli said that the monument, which attracts three million pilgrims annually apart from tourists, has undergone significant damage since its conversion into a mosque.

He asserted that even a modest number of 20-30 thousand people annually, including scientists, historians, archaeologists, representatives of the Muslim religion, politicians, and public officials, could be considered excessive for the endurance of the monument.

In June 2022 a number of tiles of the ancient marble floors in Hagia Sophia were damaged by heavy machines used to clean the site.

In April 2022, The Turkish Association of Art Historians stated that the historic Imperial Gate in Hagia Sophia had been badly damaged.

The group posted a picture clearly depicting the damage to the oak wood of the 15-century-old gate.

Turkey unveiled plans in late October for a visitor management policy at Hagia Sophia, including charging foreign tourists with an entrance fee to be implemented starting Jan. 15.

Minister of Culture and Tourism Mehmet Nuri Ersoy said that extensive restoration work is underway in various sections of Hagia Sophia, now a mosque, with plans to progress to other parts upon their completion.

He emphasized that, based on UNESCO’s recommendations, a visitor management plan would be enforced to enhance the quality and safety of visits while preserving the historical significance of the site.

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Officials argue for repairs to Hagia Sophia after footage shows fragments falling from the dome – Neos Kosmos

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What political motivations influenced Erdogan's decision to reconvert Hagia Sophia?

Erdogan's decision was influenced by Turkey's Islamic resurgence.

Who was angered by the reconversion of Hagia Sophia in July 2020?