Hagia Sophia was a church for 916 years, a mosque from 1453 to 1934, a museum for 86 years, and it was reconverted to a mosque on July 24, 2020 after a Turkish court overturned the 1934 decision on July 10, 2020.

The site has been on UNESCO’s World Heritage List since 1985, which amplified global attention to the 2020 status change.

Many observers criticized the reconversion as a political move by President Erdogan to shore up his Islamist and conservative base and to promote an Islamo‑nationalist direction.

Analysts linked the decision to Erdogan’s merger with nationalists and to a neo‑Ottoman vision that elevates Ottoman-Islamic symbols in domestic politics.

The move was also framed as tactical politics to consolidate power, divide the opposition, and appeal to far‑Right or anti‑Kemalist voters.

Critics argue it coincided with electoral calculations and served to distract from Turkey’s economic difficulties.

Commentators further connected it with a broader Islamo‑nationalist agenda and a perceived shift away from secularism.

The Greek Orthodox Church, Greece, the US, Russia, and other Orthodox institutions criticized the decision, and Pope Francis expressed grief over the change.

UNESCO criticized the conversion decision taken without prior consultation, reflecting concern for the site’s “Common Heritage of Humanity.”.

Turkey has rejected UNESCO criticism as biased, while maintaining that tourists can still visit without disturbing prayer.

Religious and heritage concerns focus on the perception that the reconversion prioritizes the Islamic past over other historical layers.

Conservation issues were highlighted, including fears about the safety and preservation of Byzantine artwork and the building fabric under heavy use.

Mosaics and frescoes depicting human figures, including Jesus and Mary, are covered with curtains during prayer in line with Islamic practice.

Additional preservation concerns include humidity-related fragments falling from the dome and damage to marble floors and the Imperial Gate.

Operational changes followed the reconversion, including separate entrances for worshippers and tourists and a management plan to regulate density and routes.

Tour guides are not allowed to accompany visitors inside the mosque; instead, earphones are used for guided visits to protect the prayer environment.

Visitors can access detailed history and iconography via an application and QR codes, with information provided in 16 languages.

Headset guides and QR systems are available in up to 23 languages, supplemented by security cameras and fire systems to manage crowds safely.

Access and pricing have also drawn criticism, with the reimposition of an entrance fee for foreign tourists to support preservation of cultural assets.

The current published fee level for foreigners is €25, and Turkish citizens enter for worship for free with separate access.

Officials state that proceeds are directed to cultural assets and monument preservation as part of the long‑term maintenance plan.

For balance, it is important to note that some Muslims praised the reconversion as restoring Islamic heritage, and similar decisions were taken for Chora Church.

A Christian leader, Father Manuel Musallam, voiced support and even proposed restoring the Cordoba mosque in exchange for Hagia Sophia becoming a church again, illustrating the complexity of views.

As a guide, present the controversy neutrally, emphasizing Hagia Sophia’s multi‑layered history and UNESCO status while acknowledging international criticism.

Use calm, inclusive phrasing such as “respecting UNESCO heritage,” “Common Heritage of Humanity,” “co‑existence,” and “respect for diverse histories” to de‑escalate tension.

Phrases like “historical trust,” “common place for everyone,” and “restoration of original status” can help reflect multiple perspectives respectfully.

Explain practical facts that reassure visitors: tourists can still visit; prayer is prioritized; separate entrances reduce disruption; and information is provided quietly in many languages.

If asked about art, clarify that the famous Byzantine mosaics are covered only during prayer, which aligns with mosque practice.

If asked about UNESCO, note it criticized the unilateral decision and recommended a visitor management plan now being implemented on site.

Use the multilingual app and headsets to provide accurate content discreetly and avoid disturbing worshippers.

Maintain a respectful, non‑confrontational tone and be sensitive to diverse backgrounds, which is a core professional standard for guides.

For business planning, expect operational adjustments: separate flows for visitors and worshippers, headset‑only guiding inside, and a paid entrance for foreign tourists.

Official statistics indicate sustained interest, with 13.6 million visits in 2022, suggesting the site remains a major draw despite controversy.

Industry observers note the €25 fee and a weak lira could influence pricing of other services, so set expectations transparently for clients.

Overall, pairing neutral facts with inclusive language and strong visitor management will help you address sensitive questions while safeguarding the experience.

Hagia Sophia was a church for 916 years, a mosque from 1453 to 1934, a museum for 86 years, and it was reconverted to a mosque on July 24, 2020 after a Turkish court overturned the 1934 decision on July 10, 2020.

Title:

Content: She returned Hagia Sophia to a mosque.
Turkey has challenged global trusteeship
Daily Morning
Istanbul, Turkey
Posted at 29.10.2022 10: 23
Hagia Sophia Mosque (Getty Images)
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Friday that the fact that Turkey has returned the Hagia Sophia museum from a museum to a mosque represents a major challenge to the global trusteeship.
Speaking at a ceremony announcing the vision of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) “Turkey ’ s Century ” in Ankara, Erdogan said his country was challenging global tutelage and thanked citizens for their support for the decision to return Hagia Sophia.
He noted that his party has always sought to eliminate any vestiges of guardianship and promote democracy in the country over the past 20 years.
Turkey has lived through a remarkable period in its history in general and the history of Istanbul, especially when Hagia Sophia was transformed from its status as a museum and restored to its former glory as the Grand Mosque of Hagia Sophia on July 24, 2020.
The historic building remained a church for 916 years until the conquest of Istanbul.
It was then used as a mosque between 1453 and 1934, nearly 500 years before becoming a museum for 86 years.
It is one of the most visited historical buildings in Turkey by domestic and international tourists, and Hagia Sophia was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1985.
On July 10, 2020, a Turkish court overturned a 1934 ministerial decision that turned Hagia Sophia into a museum, paving the way for it to be used again as a mosque after an 86-year hiatus.

How did the role of Hagia Sophia change following the Ottoman conquest?

Sultan Mehmed II converted Hagia Sophia into a mosque,

Hagia Sophia became a central Islamic religious site for centuries

What was the original historical and cultural significance of Hagia Sophia in the Byzantine Empire?

Served as the central church of Byzantine Christianity,

The site has been on UNESCO’s World Heritage List since 1985, which amplified global attention to the 2020 status change.

Many observers criticized the reconversion as a political move by President Erdogan to shore up his Islamist and conservative base and to promote an Islamo‑nationalist direction.

Title:

Content: >
December 9, 2021

Christian leaders look forward to Turkey's new law on religious foundations

This is an issue of vital importance for local Christian communities whose places of worship are entrusted to and managed by their governing bodies

Religious minorities in Turkey are looking forward to the increasingly Islamo-nationalist government making good its promise of outreach to non-Muslims by giving them freedom to establish and run their religious and social institutions.

The Turkish government is preparing to issue a new regulation on the administrative management of foundations linked to non-Muslim faith communities, which have been paralyzed for years by a legislative impasse that blocks the renewal of their governing bodies.

This is an issue of vital importance for local Christian communities such as Armenians and Assyrians, whose places of worship – many of them historic --, other real estate and public institutions are entrusted to and managed by foundations.

Burhan Ersoy, head of the state-run Directorate of the Foundations, has confirmed that the plan for the drafting of a new regulation concerning the elections for the assignment of offices within the foundations has come into being, Fides reported.

The draft of the text has been drawn up, taking into account requests and proposals from the various minority communities, and it is expected that the new rules, after obtaining government approval, would be implemented by April 2022.

The previous electoral regulation for the top management of foundations had been suspended in 2013, after the government chose to establish new procedures to make the management of real estate more functional and transparent.

This led to some confusion with representatives of the various minority communities unable to come to a consensus to either accept or reject the new electoral rules, Ersoy said.

The Syrian Orthodox Christian Süleyman Can Ustabaşı, current representative of the non-Muslim Foundations within the Assembly of Foundations, has said that the structure of foundations and their membership profiles had changed over time.

The Turkish government already had consultations with the representatives of religious minorities to resolve the dispute over board elections for their foundations.

But Ustabaşı now urges Turkish authorities to carry out another consultation with representatives of minority communities before the new text is to be implemented in 2022.

The legal status of the Foundations is still based on the Peace Treaty of Lausanne, signed in 1923 by Turkey and the Entente powers (British Empire, France and Russian Empire) victorious from the First World War.

The treaty guaranteed equality before the laws and the freedom to promote and manage "religious and social institutions" for non-Muslim communities in Turkey.

However, the state had seized properties run by these foundations and had to contend with litigation as these foundations claimed the rights guaranteed by the Treaty of Lausanne.

Also, starting from 1936, legislative provisions had allowed foundations of non-Muslim communities to acquire new properties. But in 1974, this guarantee was canceled and the state begun seizing assets acquired by these foundations.

Between 2013 and 2018 about 1,084 properties were returned to the foundations linked to non-Muslim communities, and 20 places of worship restored and given back to the foundations, according to official data.

Greek Orthodox Laki Vingas, in a speech published by the Armenian-Turkish newspaper Agos, said that the legislative deadlock on the question of the regulation of the foundations has had a negative effect on the life of the different ecclesial communities.

The block in the processes of renewal of the governing bodies of foundations had led to the expulsion of young people from the institutions linked to their communities, and also that many voluntary activities were "unfortunately interrupted".

Non-Muslim places of worship

Within the general Assembly of the Turkish Foundations are some 167 minority foundations. The Turkish Greek community has 77, the highest number of foundations. The Armenian community has 54 and the Jewish community has 19 foundations.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan after a cabinet meeting held on October 25 announced that authorities had put on the agenda the question of the elections of the directorates of the foundations linked to religious minorities.

He also spoke of fundamental tools for the management of assets and resources destined for non-Muslim places of worship.

The issue of the foundations come at a time when Turkish authorities have expelled more and more Protestant Christians -- foreigners and Turkish converts-- on grounds they constitute a "threat to national security".

Turkey had also recently transformed museums into mosques, such as the Hagia Sophia and the Church of the Holy Saviour in Chora.

Both churches had been turned into museums after the end of the Ottoman Empire and the establishment of modern Turkey.

The Church of the Holy Saviour in Chora was built by the Byzantines in the 5th century. The Ottomans then turned it into a mosque after they captured Constantinople in 1453. And it remained a Muslim worship space until the end of the Second World War when it was transformed into a museum.

The same happened to the Hagia Sophia Museum in Iznik, and the high-profile reconversion of the Hagia Sophia Museum, Istanbul's most identifiable monument.

Many observers believe that President Erdogan, weakened internally by a bad economy and a lack of political perspective, is compensating with erasing part of the country's multiculturalism, aimed at shoring up the ranks of his Islamo-nationalist base.

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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.

The decision aimed to rally anti-Kemalist voters.

Analysts linked the decision to Erdogan’s merger with nationalists and to a neo‑Ottoman vision that elevates Ottoman-Islamic symbols in domestic politics.

Title:

Content: On the 564 anniversary of the conquest of Constantinople by the Ottomans, the American Council for the Liberation of Hagia Sophia (CALHSC) called for the Hagia Sophia Museum to return to its original significance, that is, it should once again hear Christian prayers and Christian services.
Such a statement, reports the Austrian Catholic news agency KATHPRESS, was made by the president of CALHSC, an American politician of Greek origin Chris Spirou.
According to the agency, he has already appealed to the Turkish government with a proposal to start negotiations on this issue.
As a first step, it is proposed to allow regular liturgical services while maintaining the status of Hagia Sophia as a museum.
All Christians still perceive the cathedral as a shrine, Spira argues, so if the Turkish authorities raise the issue of returning it to the status of a cult place of worship, Ankara should hear the voices of Christians, not just Muslims.
In the event that the Turkish leadership does not go to negotiations, the “American Council for the Liberation of Hagia Sophia ” is going to file a lawsuit in the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.
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?
This is not the first time Spirou has taken such an initiative.
His organization, registered in 2005, but not particularly famous, has already announced its intention to celebrate the liturgy in the cathedral museum.
The Turkish government then called the words of the American politician a provocation, and he himself was denied entry to the country.
But a lot of things are changing in the Middle East, Europe and the United States today.
Ankara is no longer the “best ally ” it used to be, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is moving further and further away from the familiar image of the head of state for Western colleagues, with whom you can deal.
Washington even under the previous administration with a squeak, but went on to recognize the importance of protecting Christian minorities in the Middle East, and the current Trump administration puts this at the forefront.
Cracks went on the sarcophagus, which until now protected the secular museum of Hagia Sophia from degeneration into a religious object.
And not at all in the church, in the mosque, which Hagia Sophia became after the conquest by the Ottomans of the capital of the Orthodox Byzantine Empire in May 1453.
The intensification of this process is associated today with the rebirth of Erdogan himself, although it is difficult to be completely sure that there is no political conjuncture here, which, as you know, is changeable.
Alexxx1979
View of St. Sophia Cathedral
Recall that in early April this year, a number of Turkish newspapers reported that the President was going on Friday, April 14, together with the leadership of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and religious leaders of Istanbul to visit the Hagia Sophia Museum to pray in it as Muslims.
The timing of Muslim prayer in the former church was not accidental.
On April 14 this year was Holy Friday, which is dedicated to the memory of the condemnation to death, the suffering of the cross and the death of Jesus Christ, as well as the removal of His body from the cross and burial.
Considering also that Easter is now the Orthodox and Catholics coincided, the message was sent powerful and significant.
All this seemed to be a continuation of playing the religious card on the eve of the referendum on April 16, which decided whether Turkey should be a parliamentary or presidential republic.
On April 18, it became clear that Erdogan had won.
But I lost at the same time.
In September 2015, during the parliamentary elections, the ruling party received 51% of the vote, and the nationalist Nationalist Action Party received about 20%.
When the AKP merged with the nationalists in the course of lobbying for constitutional amendments, it expected that the addition of 50% and 20% would give 70% or more in the referendum.
Only 51% of Turks supported the union of the two parties.
In this regard, many Turkish experts, analyzing the current situation, pointed out that the Justice and Development Party, having entered into an alliance with the Nationalist Action Party, made a strategic mistake, creating not only the impression of a synthesis of “soft Islamism ” with nationalists, but also began to cultivate a hybrid ideology of neo-Ottomanism, which was not supported by almost half of the citizens of Turkey..
However, there is another thing – the conservative and religious inner Anatolia, whose votes went to Erdogan, began to realize that from now on she has the right to present her demands to him.
This directly affects Saint Sophia.
An observer for the Turkish newspaper Hurriyet Daily News points out in this regard that on the eve of the 564 anniversary of the conquest of Constantinople, the space around the Hagia Sophia Museum is again filled, but not by tourists, but by members of the Anatolian Youth Association (AGD), whose motto is the words of the late Islamist politician, former Prime Minister of Turkey Necmettin Erbakan: “Life is faith and jihad ”.
These passionately believing people are actively opposed to everything that testifies to the presence of the non-Muslim faith in Turkish society.
And not just Santa Claus for the New Year.
For the past three years, they have focused on making Hagia Sophia “free from shackles ” and converted into a mosque.
Erdogan is slow.
However, the impatient members of the AGD are even more demanding for action this year.
After the referendum, Turkish politics entered a difficult phase of implementing the new constitution, and after May 29, the question arises whether these loud signals from Anatolia will now be ignored.
The Turkish president himself, during a speech in the ancient capital during the celebration of the conquest of Constantinople, according to the government news agency Anadolu, emphasized that “Istanbul, which since its foundation has been the capital of different states and cultures, has become a center of peaceful coexistence and tolerance during the just rule of Sultan Mehmed Fatih [also known as Mehmed the Conqueror]. ”
This part of Erdogan ’ s rhetoric looks tolerant.
But what will follow?
If suddenly the Turkish president decided to allow the Hagia Sophia Museum to serve the liturgy, then this, at least, made us think about the prospects of a possible return of Turkey to the path of improving relations with the Christian world, in particular with the European Union, which Erdogan has repeatedly sarcastic called “the Christian club ”.
However, this will require from the president not only personal courage, but also reliance on new political and social forces, the search for new allies in the country and abroad.
The problem is that even in Turkey itself, an opinion is beginning to take shape that Erdogan is becoming a hostage of internal Anatolia.
This means that the Hagia Sophia Museum, under pressure from this part of the country and society, would rather become a mosque than a church.

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

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

The move was also framed as tactical politics to consolidate power, divide the opposition, and appeal to far‑Right or anti‑Kemalist voters.

Title:

Content: Can Europe Make It?: Opinion

Why Turkey’s withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention is a global problem

Far-Right populists might claim to be protecting local traditions, but the backlash against women’s rights demands an international response

Özlem Altan-Olcay Bertil Emrah Oder
2 June 2021, 12.00am

On 20 March, Turkey’s Official Gazette announced a presidential decision to withdraw from the Istanbul Convention, the Council of Europe’s treaty on preventing violence against women and domestic violence. While the announcement was sudden, it was not a complete surprise, given that the Convention has been a focus of the backlash against women’s rights in countries with right-wing populist governments.

Alongside the Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment, and Eradication of Violence against Women (Bélem do Para), the Istanbul Convention is the world’s leading international human rights treaty that specifically targets gender-based violence. After two years of preparation and negotiation, the treaty was opened to signature in 2011 in Istanbul, with the Turkish foreign minister being the first signatory. The Turkish parliament then approved the ratification unanimously, stressing its full support for eradicating violence against women. On 8 March 2012, in a symbolic display of political support to mark International Women’s Day, the parliament passed Law No. 6284 on gender-based violence and officially ratified the Istanbul Convention.

Turkish participation in the Convention stems from a history of feminist mobilisation in Turkey, which has successfully demanded progressive changes in state structures and legislation over several decades. For example, feminist groups pushed for Turkey’s ratification of the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women in 1985 and successfully pressured the government to lift its reservations in 1999. In addition, alliances across women’s organisations helped push for a new civil code in 2001, which recognised the full equality of women and men in marriage, and a new penal code in 2004, with progressive changes in punishing femicides (or so-called “honour crimes”), rape in marriage, sexual harassment, child abuse, and other sex crimes that perpetuate women’s inferior status. Feminist advocacy has made Turkey’s legal system significantly more gender-responsive by building coalitions across women’s networks (platforms) and negotiating with state actors through institutional channels such as parliamentary committees and ministries.

Since then, feminist groups have campaigned to make visible the horrific extent of violence against women in Turkey and the way in which it has intensified in recent years. They used the Council of Europe’s first Group of Experts report on the Convention in 2018 to highlight how the judiciary finds ways to undermine legal clauses or misinterpret them to enable victim blaming. They also raised concerns about secondary victimisation, which occurs when police fail to implement protective measures, as well as prosecutorial ignorance and violations of victims’ rights. In contrast to right-wing populists, who claim that violence against women has increased because of the Convention, women’s NGOs have proved that the problem is a lack of implementation.

The gathering backlash

Despite the progressive legal framework, populists on the far Right have become more unabashed in recent years. There are increasing attempts to remove the problem of gender inequality from political discussion by claiming that there is a natural division of labour between men and women in families, and that we should try to protect families and Turkish culture.

For example, perpetrators’ strategies of victim-blaming have been increasingly successful before criminal courts, which themselves abuse the legal clauses regarding unjust provocation or good behaviour. Lower courts have unsuccessfully challenged the existing legislation to prevent gender-based violence in Turkey’s constitutional court. In 2016, a bill was proposed that would have deferred punishment for the sexual assault of minors. Supporters of the bill, which advocacy groups referred to as “the marry your rapist bill” or “the statutory rape bill”, claimed to be protecting families where men, punished for sexual assaults on minors, had married their victims with the consent of both parties. After massive protests and criticism from civil society, including representatives of conservative women’s groups, the government withdrew the bill.

These moves coincided with growing attacks from the Right on the ‘dangers’ of the Istanbul Convention. In response, We Will Stop Femicide Platform (Kadın Cinayetlerini Durduracağız Platformu) organised a social media campaign in 2019 called “The Istanbul Convention Keeps us Alive”. This campaign was picked up by civil society organisations, political parties and local authorities. In 2020, Turkish feminists initiated the #Challenge Accepted campaign by posting black-and-white pictures of themselves, indicating that they do not want to end up among the pictures of domestic violence victims that mourners pin to their collars at funerals. The campaign was picked up internationally and became a trending topic on Instagram within days. Turkish feminist organisations came together in August 2020 to establish a platform called Women’s Platform for Equality (Eşitlik için Kadın Platformu) to fight collectively against far-Right demands to withdraw from the Convention. The platform is also part of a transnational advocacy network with organisations from various countries where women’s rights are under similar attack.

Meanwhile, polls in Turkey show a significant decrease (from 45% to 21% in the last ten years) in public support for namus, the belief that women’s behaviour and public presence should be controlled in order to protect ‘family honour’. Similarly, acceptance of domestic violence is falling (from 20% to 6% in the last five years). Among people who know what the Istanbul Convention is, 84% were against a potential withdrawal in September 2020. Even within the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), many defended the Convention after far-Right actors began denouncing it.

As societal norms become more progressive, thanks in part to a strong tradition of feminist advocacy, there is also a vociferous right-wing backlash. The situation in Turkey, therefore, is complex.

Withdrawal and democratic resistance

The level of social mobilisation against the presidential decree throws its legitimacy into question. After 20 March, government leaders claimed that the decision was irrevocable. Nevertheless, people poured onto the streets to protest despite the risks of police violence and the Covid-19 pandemic. Resistance has not been limited to demonstrations, either. Individuals and associations have used strategic litigation in a manner unprecedented in Turkey’s political history: Women’s platforms, ordinary citizens, and 77 bar associations have filed thousands of lawsuits before the Conseil d’Etat, the highest administrative court, calling for the decision to be annulled. The opposition parties, CHP, IYI Party, DEVA, and HDP, have also voiced their objections and joined the litigation campaign while TUSIAD, the Turkish Industry and Business Association, which represents Turkey’s largest companies, has issued a declaration against the withdrawal.

Recently, some right-wing commentators have explained the backlash against the Convention as a reaction against top-down policy measures linked to globalisation and Europeanisation. They claim that the pro-women policies themselves reflect a significant democratic deficit because they lack popular support in Turkey. Accordingly, any action to promote gender equality in Turkey results from international commitments and the work of “submissive governments” and the “bureaucratic elite”. In this explanation, therefore, the backlash is presented as a case of citizens voicing their concerns about the lack of democratic oversight, and demanding participation in public policy making.

However, this argument is not just implausible but also highly problematic given the unanimous parliamentary approval of the Istanbul Convention in 2012, as well as the recent polls showing high public support for the Convention, not to mention widespread protests and declarations against the withdrawal, and divisions inside the AKP itself. A better explanation might be that marginal and ultra-conservative groups have captured critical positions in the government and are attempting to retain them through a politics of polarisation.

The far Right claims pro-women policies reflect a significant democratic deficit because they lack popular support in Turkey

The support of Turkey’s bar associations for the litigation campaign against the withdrawal decision is also significant. In fact, it is not possible to unilaterally withdraw from an international convention based on a presidential decision. The government has tried to justify this by reference to a recent and highly controversial decree giving the president opaque authority to dissolve international agreements unilaterally. However, a presidential decision is a simple administrative order for implementing statutory legislation rather than replacing it. Thus, the withdrawal violates the institutional balance of powers and associated normative hierarchy laid down in article 90 of the Turkish constitution.

Although Turkey moved to a presidential system of government in 2017, the constitution still gives parliament exclusive power over both international agreements and civil rights. Moreover, the constitution recognises that international human rights treaties have primacy over statutory legislation. Therefore, this move can hardly be considered to carry legitimacy even within the confines of Turkish law.

Democratic backsliding

The withdrawal also has important implications for the wider political context in Turkey. In particular, the government’s increasing tendency to take controversial decisions without following the regular institutional procedures is undermining democracy.

For example, the government forced the repeat of two recent elections after losing: the general election in 2015 and Istanbul’s mayoral election in 2019. Meanwhile, the European Court of Human Rigthts and the Council of Europe Commissioner of Human Rights have identified numerous attacks and smear campaigns by the ruling elite against civil society, individual human rights defenders, journalists, and other dissenters. The government’s extensive use of criminal law, particularly anti-terrorism legislation, against Turkey’s independent media means that Turkey has the most detained journalists among Council of Europe countries. In contrast, organised crime leaders have become prominent figures who threaten the political opposition. An ongoing economic and financial crisis in Turkey has also reduced the government’s popularity, especially in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, with increasing numbers questioning the shift to the presidential system.

Given these developments, the swift withdrawal from the Convention appears to be another government attempt to consolidate a shrinking political base, much like its sudden, well-publicised conversion of Hagia Sophia into a mosque. In other words, the tactical moves aim to gain support from Turkey’s far Right and to divide the opposition bloc by attracting the voters of minority political parties on the Right that the AKP needs to win upcoming presidential elections.

These sudden moves may also relate to the government’s call for a new constitution. Although the 2017 constitutional amendments increased the president’s executive power and accelerated democratic backsliding, Turkey has so far avoided a complete institutional dismantlement and collapse of civic oversight, as parliamentary opposition and civil society remain vibrant. The government’s sudden and arbitrary actions may be aimed at disempowering parliament and further eroding democratic oversight. Shutting down the possibilities for open public debate may be part of a wider project to introduce a more regressive constitution down the road.

The recent polls show high public support for the Convention, not to mention widespread protests and declarations against the withdrawal

The transnational context

The government’s withdrawal decision has been accompanied by intensified references to “our culture” and “our traditions”. Ironically, of course, such references to authenticity and cultural difference are common among far-Right opponents of gender equality and women’s rights everywhere. In other words, the backlash is transnational, even though it is based on claims of unique, homogenous community identities. For example, the Turkish government has tried to legitimise its decision by referring to other countries, such as the call by Poland’s ultra-conservative groups to protect the country’s ‘traditional’ values against LGBTQ+ rights, and the hesitancy of the governments of Hungary, Bulgaria, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic to ratify the Convention.

Turkey’s notification of withdrawal sets a precedent for other illiberal governments in Europe to suddenly abandon their international commitments. There is a risk that ultra-conservative forces in other contexts use Turkey’s withdrawal as a validation of their own claims that the Istanbul Convention reinforces unwelcome ‘gender ideology’ and ‘undermines the family’. The next stages will be crucial, not only for Turkey, but for the future of the European post-war order, which has gradually created a framework of human rights and the rule of law.

Gender equality is central to public discussion and policy formation transnationally, precisely because attempts at democratic erosion often target it in regressive political contexts. The right-wing backlash against gender equality makes it a vital theme and a matter of grassroots politics, but also shows that egalitarian achievements face a critical moment. We should not consider the sudden withdrawal by Turkey’s socially conservative government as a country-specific response; rather, we must follow it carefully for its transnational impact. Its effects can easily spread by encouraging other right-wing populist governments and transnational anti-gender networks. If this in fact happens, a powerful backlash may even threaten the hard-won gains in women’s human rights through other international commitments like the Beijing Platform of Action and Agenda 2030.

We must also consider the implications of these developments for how to situate rights with respect to cultural difference. Popular critical discussions currently tend to reject a Eurocentric perspective in favor of recognising cultural diversity. But they pay less attention than they could to feminists and rights advocates living under regressive regimes. A simplistic understanding of multiculturalism can be dangerous if it only recognises purported differences between societies and ignores differences within a society, as well as the fact that no cultural claim is fixed or uncontested.

Such a simplistic argument about cultural diversity can hide the fact that some people can have disproportionate power to define hegemonic cultural practices in each society. The inadvertent effect of not recognising this is that women demanding what right-wing voices refer to as ‘Western’ rights are heard less and must take greater risks to voice their demands whereas those with disproportionate power can become more brazen in promoting the one ‘authentic’ culture of that society.

An understanding of multiculturalism can be dangerous if it recognises differences between societies but ignores differences within a society

It is essential to remember that people who use arguments of cultural difference and tradition may themselves be part of transnational forces that use similar rhetoric to prevent oppressed groups from demanding their rights.

We have outlined how progressive forces in Turkish civil society, particularly feminist groups, have resisted the government’s decision to withdraw from the Istanbul Convention and the backlash against its provisions. These developments show the need to listen more attentively to people living under regressive regimes who say they don’t want their rights to be eclipsed by ideas of cultural difference and tradition. The people making these demands are neither Westernised nor elites; rather, they are clear evidence that millions around the world demand democracy and gender equality. Their experiences also show the real dangers of confusing celebration of diverse cultural practices with ignoring demands for rights and opposition to regressive discourses and practices in specific societies.

International Day of the Disappeared

Amid increased disappearances of rights defenders, we explore the remarkable efforts of women land rights activists in Mexico and the journalists reporting their stories.

While marking the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances, we will discuss the safety of individual defenders across the globe and rampant impunity for crimes against them. The panel is framed around our latest film about the shared threats that women human rights defenders and the journalists who cover their stories face in Mexico.

Join us at 5pm UK time (6pm CET) on Thursday 2 September for this free live event.

Simultaneous translation channels for English and Spanish will be available.

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

The decision aimed to rally anti-Kemalist voters.

Critics argue it coincided with electoral calculations and served to distract from Turkey’s economic difficulties.

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

The decision aimed to rally anti-Kemalist voters.

Commentators further connected it with a broader Islamo‑nationalist agenda and a perceived shift away from secularism.

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

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

The Greek Orthodox Church, Greece, the US, Russia, and other Orthodox institutions criticized the decision, and Pope Francis expressed grief over the change.

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?

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

UNESCO criticized the conversion decision taken without prior consultation, reflecting concern for the site’s “Common Heritage of Humanity.”.

Title:

Content: New rules come into force for the visit of Hagia Sophia Mosque in Turkey - Sunrise Gate
Tuesday 16 January 2024 2: 04 PM Cairo Cairo 24 °
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New rules come into effect for visiting Hagia Sophia mosque in Turkey
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Published on: Tuesday 16 January 2024 - 1: 54 PM | Last updated on Tuesday 16 January 2024 - 1: 54 PM
The project for the Hagia Sophia mosque was closest to the heart of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan – but it was also the project that drew international criticism.
In the summer of 2020, Erdogan restored Hagia Sophia to be a mosque after it was originally a church, converted into an Ottoman mosque, converted into a museum.
At the time, Erdogan assured citizens that entry fees would be abolished, adding that the cultural edifice would remain open to everyone – Muslims or non-Muslims alike.
There will be another major change from January 15, with access to the Hagia Sophia restricted and visitors will have to pay fees again.
Turkish Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Arsoy hopes this will improve coexistence between religious and tourist visitors.
Arsoy said recently that tourist visitors are making noise and disrupting calm and prayer.
Until recently, visitors and worshippers were allowed to enter the interior of Hagia Sophia together, with barriers and signs keeping a certain distance between them.
However, from now on, worshippers and tourists will be introduced through different entrances.
Although worshippers can use the same entrances as before, tourists will be guided through an upstairs hallway.
According to Arsoy, tour guides will not be allowed to accompany visitors through the corridors, and earphones will be used instead.
“Our priority there is prayer, ” Arsoy said, noting that the building is a world cultural heritage site and should therefore remain open to all visitors around the world.
Zuleiha Duman, 29, who returned to Istanbul from Germany to see Hagia Sophia after it was converted into a mosque, said she found it taking away.
Welcoming the new rules, she said: “As long as the entrance fee isn ’ t too high, I think it ’ s acceptable. ”
“Why shouldn ’ t Turkey and the government take advantage of this place?
These funds can be channeled to preserve more religious places. ”
Hagia Sophia has been on the UNESCO World Heritage List as part of Istanbul ’ s history since 1985.
Built by Emperor Justinian, Hagia Sophia was the largest place of worship in Christianity for nearly a thousand years, it was the main church during the Byzantine Empire, and from the seventh century, the emperor was crowned inside.
After the Ottomans entered Constantinople (now Istanbul) in 1453, the Hagia Sophia was converted into a mosque.
On the orders of the founder of the Turkish Republic Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the building was converted into a museum in 1934 until the summer of 2020.
Hagia Sophia is as symbolically important to Orthodox Christians around the world as St. Peter ’ s Basilica is to Catholics.
After the building was converted into a mosque, criticism poured in from the Greek Orthodox Church.
The UNESCO Foundation also criticized the decision without consultation.
For Erdogan, turning the place into a mosque was his “childhood dream, ” as he himself said, and pleasing to religious voters.
A few external changes were made at the time, for example, a green carpet was placed above the marble floor.
It seems clear that all these things did not detract from the popularity of this teacher.
According to official statistics, some 13.6 million people visited the Hagia Sophia landmark in 2022, not all of them from Europe.
The number of visitors from Indonesia in particular has risen, Hagia Sophia Imam Binyamin Topoglu told Turkey ’ s Anadolu news agency in 2023.
The amount of the fees has not yet been determined.
Tourism Minister Ersoy says the proceeds will be spent on cultural assets, for excavation or preservation of monuments such as the Hagia Sophia.
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What was UNESCO's main complaint about the reconversion?

Turkey has rejected UNESCO criticism as biased, while maintaining that tourists can still visit without disturbing prayer.

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Content: Turkey’s iconic Hagia Sophia mosque to charge $28 entry fee for tourists

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Turkey’s Hagia Sophia mosque began charging tourists nearly $28 on Monday for entrance to the landmark site.

The UNESCO World Heritage site, renowned for its blue-tiled interior, will no longer allow free admission to foreigners, the Turkish tourism ministry announced.

For the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.

The former museum-turned mosque has a new entrance in front of the Topkapi Palace Museum open for tourists.

Tunnel entrance at Turkey's Hagia Sophia. (File photo)

The Hagia Sophia was a museum space from 1934 until 2020 when Turkey decided to change it to a mosque. Various historical reports say the mosque with byzantine architecture was an Orthodox cathedral decades ago.

“With the new application that will start on January 15 at the Hagia Sophia Mosque, tourists will be able to visit the mosque without disturbing the prayer environment,” the ministry said in a statement.

The entrance to the mosque will be “provided in a controlled manner through the tunnel and entrance ramp where visitors will be transported to the gallery floor and exited via the ramp in the northeast direction,” the statement said.

“Tourists who come to the gallery section will be able to see the sanctuary floor of the mosque and the Ottoman Period annexes, pass through the heaven-hell gate, and examine the Byzantine Period mosaics in this section,” it added.

Security cameras, fire detection and emergency announcement systems were reportedly installed in the mosque along the tour route. Cleaning and conservation work on the marble coverings and wooden railings on the gallery floor of the mosque was also carried out by restorers and conservators.

Visitors will also have access to a headset guide with QR codes where information on the sight is available in 23 languages.

People visit the Hagia Sophia, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, in Istanbul, Turkey, July 10, 2020. (Reuters)

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Religious and heritage concerns focus on the perception that the reconversion prioritizes the Islamic past over other historical layers.

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

Conservation issues were highlighted, including fears about the safety and preservation of Byzantine artwork and the building fabric under heavy use.

Mosaics and frescoes depicting human figures, including Jesus and Mary, are covered with curtains during prayer in line with Islamic practice.

How did the role of Hagia Sophia change following the Ottoman conquest?

Sultan Mehmed II converted Hagia Sophia into a mosque,

Hagia Sophia became a central Islamic religious site for centuries

Additional preservation concerns include humidity-related fragments falling from the dome and damage to marble floors and the Imperial Gate.

Title:

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

0

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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Operational changes followed the reconversion, including separate entrances for worshippers and tourists and a management plan to regulate density and routes.

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Content: Events
Entrance to Hagia Sophia will again be paid, but not for everyone
Minister of Culture and Tourism of Turkey Mehmet Nuri Ersoy said that visiting the Ayia Sophia mosque for foreign citizens from January 15 will be paid.
Ersoy, who held a press conference at the Ataturk Cultural Center (AKM), said that according to the first 9 months of tourism, the total number of visitors, which last year amounted to 40.2 million people, increased to 45.2 million at the end of September.
Noting that Ayia Sophia and Sultanahmet Square are included in the UNESCO permanent heritage list, Ersoy said that they listened to the advice and opinions of UNESCO and implemented the decisions on the restoration of the Ayia Sophia Mosque.
Minister Ersoy stressed that from January 15, 2024, they will move to the management plan of the visitors of Agia Sofya on the recommendation of UNESCO, and said:
“In this management plan, the quality of visits and safety will be improved.
Density will be regulated by distributing it along different routes.
Again, our precious mosque will be incorporated into a very ideal ecosystem focused on protecting and promoting the "Common Heritage of Humanity".
According to Ersoy, the entrance for worshippers will remain the same, but the tourist entrance will change, so that these two streams will not change. that information about Hagia Sophia will be provided in 16 languages through an application with a QR code and headphones.
Ersoy added: “From now on, visitors will be able to complete the process by receiving detailed information about the entire history and iconography of Hagia Sophia in a quiet environment without disturbing the faithful. ”
Noting that from January 15, 2024, foreign tourists visiting the mosque will be charged a ticket fee, Ersoy said: “Visits by our Turkish citizens for the purpose of worship will be free as before.
This practice also exists in many countries. "
In general, judging by the words of Ersoy, the Hagia Sophia mosque will partially return to the function of a museum.
The most important question that may concern us now is whether the mosque will become accessible to believers from other countries?
Ersoy said that free entrance will remain only for Turkish citizens, but perhaps here he was simply referring to those who come to the mosque for the purpose of prayer, since it is obvious that the absolute majority of those praying are Turks.
In any case, we hope for this, because if passports are checked at the entrance to the mosque, and the descendants of Bosniaks or Albanians are asked to pay money so that they can pray in the mosque that their ancestors conquered in the army of Sultan Fatih Mehmed, any neo-Ottomanism can be put a bold end to.
Author: Jakub Hadžić
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Tour guides are not allowed to accompany visitors inside the mosque; instead, earphones are used for guided visits to protect the prayer environment.

Visitors can access detailed history and iconography via an application and QR codes, with information provided in 16 languages.

Headset guides and QR systems are available in up to 23 languages, supplemented by security cameras and fire systems to manage crowds safely.

Access and pricing have also drawn criticism, with the reimposition of an entrance fee for foreign tourists to support preservation of cultural assets.

The current published fee level for foreigners is €25, and Turkish citizens enter for worship for free with separate access.

Title:

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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.
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Officials state that proceeds are directed to cultural assets and monument preservation as part of the long‑term maintenance plan.

For balance, it is important to note that some Muslims praised the reconversion as restoring Islamic heritage, and similar decisions were taken for Chora Church.

Title:

Content: Turkey officially opens the Byzantine church and museum "Khora" as a mosque (PHOTOS)
World News
"Kari Mosque" in the Museum and Monastery of "Khora"
Copy Link https: / / www.rt.com / xhpk
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday officially opened the Kari Mosque in Istanbul ’ s Byzantine Museum and Monastery of Khora, four years after the church dedicated a mosque to Muslims.
On Monday, Erdogan oversaw the official remote opening of the Khora mosque and a number of restored sites from the conference hall of his residence in Ankara.
Erdogan said during the opening ceremony, which was broadcast on Turkish television, "May it be a good start."
One of the first worshipers at the mosque told Anadolu Agency: “I have been waiting for its opening for four years, and I have been honored to pray in such a place. ”
Anadolu quoted another serum as saying: “Thank God for showing us these days, I hope we come here from time to time and do our prayers. ”
The site near the walls of the old city of Istanbul is famous for its fine mosaics and frescoes.
The church dates back to the 4th century, although the edifice took its present form during the 11th and 12th centuries.
Greece has criticized the Turkish government ’ s decision to return it to use as a mosque, accusing Ankara of “personal insult ” to another World Heritage site, saying the decisions to turn Hagia Sophia and Khora back into mosques are steps aimed at strengthening the support base of conservatives and the religious trend of Erdogan ’ s ruling party amid an economic downturn.
The museum was built "Khora" monastery, in 534, the building was converted into "Kari Mosque" at the beginning of the 16th century, it was used as a mosque for more than four centuries and was converted into a museum in 1945 by a Turkish ministerial decision.
In August 2020, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan signed a decree on the conversion of the Hagia Sophia Cathedral and the Kari Museum, known as a “bottomless church ” in Turkish, into mosques.
The conversion of the two churches into mosques was praised by Muslims, but drew criticism from Greece and other countries that urged Turkey to protect important Byzantine monuments, both of which have been listed as World Heritage Sites by the United Nations.
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How did Muslims and Orthodox Christians react to the reconversion?

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.

A Christian leader, Father Manuel Musallam, voiced support and even proposed restoring the Cordoba mosque in exchange for Hagia Sophia becoming a church again, illustrating the complexity of views.

Title:

Content: Father Manuel Musallam: Pioneer of Christian-Muslim Relations.
Ahmed Youssef
Friday 26th August 2022 02: 42 pm / Jerusalem time + 2GMT
Like other Palestinian intellectuals and intellectuals, I always wondered: Why does Father Manuel Musallam, a Palestinian Christian, seem to be an exceptional man in his personality and attitudes?
What is the background of his boldness and courage when he utters a strong voice in the face of the Israeli occupation, denouncing its aggressive violations and arbitrary measures, or in denouncing the authority and its policies, which do not seem strong enough in their rejection of the rogue practices of the occupying Power?
I was impressed by the character of the man and his distinctive political and militant positions, and wrote three books about him, after navigating his biography and path as a religious man and a virtuous educational man, in addition to his distinctive pages as a politician in the national movement, where I discovered that we are facing a unique national situation in the religious and political contexts, and that he is truly an exceptional Palestinian Christian figure.
They say that “understanding something is part of his perception, ” so if Christians are mentioned, the first thing that comes to mind for many Muslims is that they are descendants of the Crusaders invading the Islamic East, while the most fair true image of them is that they are followers of Jesus (peace be upon him), and that their roots extend to the depths of this land that God has blessed for the world.
Unfortunately, many Palestinian Christians do not appear to have a role in the struggle and national context as effectively as most of their Muslim brothers, although there are among them priests and politicians who have provided distinctive models in the fight against the usurping Israeli occupation, such as Archbishop Capucci, Comrade George Habash and others.
Father Manuel was probably one of the leaders of the contemporary Christian scene at the level of speech, literature and culture of struggle, and his positions and statements against the occupation and the manifestations of Israeli aggression are the strongest and most present, especially towards the settlers ’ violations and targeting of Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Judaization policies of the Islamic and Christian heritage in Jerusalem and its cultural shepherds. In this way, he represents an exceptional Christian voice, reflecting the strength of the national presence and the depth of belonging to the Palestinian land, which he grew up on, and nurtured the frankincense of the militant identity, so he dealt with his people in a way that does not differentiate between Christian and Muslim, and opened many schools in the village of Zabababdeh and Gaza City to receive the children of Palestine, regardless of their religious background. The Palestinian identity, which, from the point of view of Father Manuel, is the essence and the basis, and his measurement was based primarily on the methodology of not differentiating between his people, since everyone in the struggle and national context is the same, and they are all the pillars of our revolutionary movement and the pillars of our project of liberation and return.
These attitudes and policies followed by Father Manuel towards his people did not go unchallenged, as some members of his community have always denounced his patriotic behavior!!
Father Manuel ’ s stances and policies did not stop at this limit of national belonging, as his words to the Palestinians of his Muslim brothers were to raise the call to prayer in their churches if necessary and the occupation destroyed their mosques, and his manly stance was beside the resistance and support for armed action against the occupation.
He also addressed all those who objected to the conversion of the Hagia Sophia Museum into a mosque in Istanbul, reminding the Christian world that the “Hagia Sophia ”, which is holy to the Orthodox Church, was trampled with disrespect and disrespect, and that today it is restored to its purity by turning it into a place of worship again.
Father Manuel addressed a speech to the Christians of the world in which the pages of history were half, when he reminded them that the mosques of Muslims after the fall of Andalusia were converted most of them into churches and museums, and that the defeat of the Ottomans in World War II emboldened Christians in Europe to convert many Muslim mosques in the Balkans, Greece and Bulgaria into stables and places where vice is practiced!!
There is no doubt that Father Manuel hoped that “Hagia Sophia ” would return as a church as it was before the Ottoman conquest, so we found him initiating an initiative for reconciliation between East and West under which the Muslims of Spain would restore the mosque of Cordoba, which became a church and a tourist landmark, in exchange for“ Hagia Sophia ” a church as it was before the fall of the Byzantine Empire 1453. Manoel is a Muslim.
Of course, these attitudes have not satisfied the most extreme Christians in much of the Western world, some of whom have launched campaigns of incitement and defamation against them.
What I learned about the character of Father Manuel during his stay for nearly a decade and a half in Gaza is that he had a close relationship with his Palestinian brothers, the government and the people, and worked with all as sons of the same homeland, and shared with the poor of the Gaza Strip a living, and much of what he received from international aid.
His attitude towards Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa and his calls for all Muslims and Christians of the world to act in support of the people of Jerusalem are impressive to everyone who knew Father Manuel.
Such calls and statements to the rescue of Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa confirm the strength of belonging to the identity and the land, which Father Manuel documented in his historical books and political literature, some of which I compiled in a book entitled “Father Manuel is Muslim.
from home. ”
In fact, Father Manuel is a national icon and a reliable model for the exceptional Palestinian Christian, who has placed Palestine, the land and identity, as the title of his personality and as the teacher of what should be the fraternal relationship in its intimate and intimate relationship between Muslims and Christians.
And finally...
If the positions of men present them and give them the forefront of the scene, Father Manuel ’ s heroic and supportive positions of the Palestinian resistance, supporting both Hamas and its leaders and its political fronts, and condemning all forms of Israeli occupation and aggression of Jerusalem, Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, confirm that we are facing a man whose positions, words and biography were an exceptional person, a model and an example. Every Palestinian Christian should follow his example and look at him through the wealth he has placed in their hands and minds in the field of thought, politics and literature, which calls on all who have read it or lived it – and the man is still alive among us – to say in full:
That ’ s the approach and the impact. ”
Father Manuel, who has Yemeni roots, landed in Jordan, and from there was forced by revenge to move to Palestine and settle there.
Father Manuel is indeed the pioneer of Christian-Islamic relations, you can hardly find a religious or social occasion without the sight of his presence apparent from Ramadan iftars or positions that combine him with Sheikh Ekrema Sabri in Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa Mosque or with Dr. Ekrema Sabri.
Nasser al-Shaer stands in solidarity with him in the hospital after a despicable attempt on his life.
In short...
Father Manuel is one of the materials of the beautiful times, which combined originality and modernity, and gave the Christians and Muslims of Palestine a unique human and cultural value.
2.

As a guide, present the controversy neutrally, emphasizing Hagia Sophia’s multi‑layered history and UNESCO status while acknowledging international criticism.

Use calm, inclusive phrasing such as “respecting UNESCO heritage,” “Common Heritage of Humanity,” “co‑existence,” and “respect for diverse histories” to de‑escalate tension.

What did the CALHSC president urge regarding decisions on Hagia Sophia?

Consider both Muslim and Christian voices

Phrases like “historical trust,” “common place for everyone,” and “restoration of original status” can help reflect multiple perspectives respectfully.

Title:

Content: “Historical Caria. ”
Farid Mosque with Christian inscriptions (Video)
The historic Karya Mosque in Istanbul officially opened its doors to worshipers, a building that was a church built in the Byzantine era, then became a mosque after the conquest of Constantinople, and then a museum in the middle of the last century.
In August 2020, the Turkish president issued a decree to reopen it for prayer, handing over the building in the Fatih area of Istanbul to the Presidency of Religious Affairs and re-opening it for worship.
Al Jazeera Mubasher entered the unique mosque of its kind, and toured the building that turned into a mosque without obliterating its Christian features, as its walls are still decorated with bright inscriptions dating back to the Byzantine era, and now held Islamic prayers, and visited by tourists of various religions.
As you walk through the historic building, the details, though contradictory, are dazzling. On your way to the mihrab, you will find Christian inscriptions adorning the walls on both sides.
One of the worshipers of Al Jazeera Mubasher expressed his gratitude for the reopening of the Karya Mosque: “These historical monuments and buildings are a trust that was put in the interest of the nation when Istanbul was opened, and they have great historical and cultural significance and we are grateful that in our time they have been restored to their original function of worship.
We thank everyone who tried this. ”
He added: “Our ancestors had special prayers for endowments, they were calling for a curse on everyone who uses these endowments other than the purpose for which they were stopped, and the main prayer was to invoke the mercy of God, angels, prophets and believers on those who served these endowments, and I hope that the restoration of Hagia Sophia and the Mosque of Karia, to their original status, will lift this curse from the shoulders of this nation. ”
A place for everyone.
Another worshipper added: “I felt the same way when I opened the Hagia Sophia Mosque, this mosque has been closed from worship for 79 years.
I've been waiting for this day.
I learned that the restoration work had been going on for four or five years, ” he said, stressing his spiritual importance to him.
He described the mosque saying: "It has small rooms, decorated with art drawings, there are remnants of Christian monuments as well, it is a mixture of religions.
From this perspective, I think it can be a common place for everyone, one that can be visited by people of other religions as well. ”
The historical Karya building was a church known as the Church of the Shura and the Church of the Holy Savior, built in 534 AD in the time of the Byzantines, and about 50 years after the Muslims opened Constantinople, Atik Ali Pasha, the minister of Sultan Bayezid II, ordered the building to be converted into a mosque, and in August 1945, the Turkish government decided to allocate the mosque to the Ministry of Education.
“It is very sad for us that Karia in Istanbul is opening a mosque of worship, ” the Greek Foreign Ministry said in a statement, adding that it“ poses a challenge to the international community, as it corrupts and insults the UNESCO character of the building ’ s cultural heritage. ”
Source: Al Jazeera Direct

What did the CALHSC president urge regarding decisions on Hagia Sophia?

Consider both Muslim and Christian voices

Explain practical facts that reassure visitors: tourists can still visit; prayer is prioritized; separate entrances reduce disruption; and information is provided quietly in many languages.

If asked about art, clarify that the famous Byzantine mosaics are covered only during prayer, which aligns with mosque practice.

If asked about UNESCO, note it criticized the unilateral decision and recommended a visitor management plan now being implemented on site.

What was UNESCO's main complaint about the reconversion?

Use the multilingual app and headsets to provide accurate content discreetly and avoid disturbing worshippers.

Maintain a respectful, non‑confrontational tone and be sensitive to diverse backgrounds, which is a core professional standard for guides.

Title:

Content: When it is said that we live in a small village, it is a sign of the connection and interdependence of different parts of the globe, as long distances are close, because of the strong network of communications, which transmits sound and image, as well as flights, shipping lines and land routes.
With such a complex situation in which there is a lot of interaction and exchange of information, and even the exchange of services, projects and investments, as well as social communication and integration, the need for skills to deal with different cultural backgrounds and orientations, which means the need to understand those cultures, adopt a tolerance and acceptance approach, communication and mutual understanding.
This means that the knowledge and knowledge of these cultures and modern technologies and their dense information, contributed to putting any information we want to obtain at hand, and thus the process of understanding and knowledge of any culture and its features available, existing and obtainable at the click of a button.
Perhaps the broad line in this regard is respect and tolerance for other orientations and cultures far from us.
The second aspect is the development of skills in dealing with people, in general, books and lectures, as well as the information available on the Internet may be appropriate and provide the information we need in this regard.
Let us not forget that dialogue, discussion and dealing with people, from different cultural backgrounds and orientations, are part of modern life, and an important part of today's world, diversity and diversity are clear and observant, and therefore learning the appropriate ways and skills in dealing and dealing is a personal task entrusted to each of us.
Respect must exist and be one of the core values, and we must respect opinions, beliefs, and the worldview of others. Empathy and acceptance is a universal language that everyone understands and understands.
Therefore, it is important to manage situations that require dealing with different opinions, or different values, with wisdom, openness and tolerance, sharing views politely and respectfully, and listening to views without any bias or intolerance.
We can train and learn this skill through the available information, and do not forget that the strength of modern technologies and the strength of modern communications, made human communication continuous and extended to various parts of the world, and with him we really need skills, science and information that enable us to build effective, fruitful and positive communication.
www.shaimaalmarzooqi.com

For business planning, expect operational adjustments: separate flows for visitors and worshippers, headset‑only guiding inside, and a paid entrance for foreign tourists.

Official statistics indicate sustained interest, with 13.6 million visits in 2022, suggesting the site remains a major draw despite controversy.

Industry observers note the €25 fee and a weak lira could influence pricing of other services, so set expectations transparently for clients.

Overall, pairing neutral facts with inclusive language and strong visitor management will help you address sensitive questions while safeguarding the experience.

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Content: In the framework of the session "Code of the tourist.
Ecosophy of Travel ” raised topical issues of the preservation of the ecosystem of the Altai Mountains against the background of an increase in the flow of tourists to the region.
At the session, prepared jointly with the Ecosophy project of the presidential platform “Russia is a Land of Opportunities ”, experts discussed prospects for the development and the degree of influence of domestic tourism on the regional economy, as well as determined the role of ecotourism in the formation of a careful attitude of society to the environment.
Ecology
IA REGNUM
The active development of domestic tourism in Russia has made it possible to visit places that many previously only dreamed of.
Measures of state support for the industry through Rosturizm and the individual development program of the Altai Republic contributed to the growth of tourist flow over the past two years by more than 40%.
Mountain Altai in 2021 was among the three most popular destinations among Russian tourists, more than 2.2 million people came to get acquainted with these unique territories.
The lack of quality infrastructure in popular tourist places, an increase in the flow of tourists lead to an increase in anthropogenic load, so right now it is very important to take care of preserving the fragile ecosystem of the Altai Mountains.
Experts of the session "Tourist Code.
Ecosophy Travel ” gathered to agree on the rules, to decide how to convey to the guests the values, traditions and features of these lands.
The event was moderated by Vita Saar, head of the Ecosophy project of the presidential platform “Russia is a Land of Opportunities ”, chairman of the committee for the development of sustainable tourism of the Russian Union of Travel Industry.
Opening the session, she addressed the participants with a small excursion into the etymology of the concept of Ecosophy and outlined the main vectors of discussion.
“Ecosophy is a philosophy of human behavior that defines itself as an integral part of nature.
This concept originated here - on the Altai land in the early twentieth century and it is here that the very place that can become the ideal embodiment of the environmental philosophy of both local residents and guests of the region is located.
It is important for tourists to create conditions under which they will be informed about the rules and traditions of the region in which they are located.
We see the willingness of society to be more responsible about the consequences of its actions and their impact on the environment.
It is important to support this aspiration and to ensure that it is possible
In most cases, the damage is caused by tourists not consciously, but due to ignorance of local features.
I propose today to jointly create a Code of tourists, which will help travelers prepare for the trip and will contribute to the sustainable development of a unique region, ” Vita Saar addressed the participants of the session.
The main tasks to be solved by the Tourist Code were outlined in his speech by the executive director of Altai Trektat LLC, deputy head of the Association of Guide-Instructors and Guides of the Altai Republic, Ayas Todoshev.
He elaborated on the comparative analysis of such phenomena as organized and “wild ” tourism, shared vivid stories illustrating situations of misunderstanding between tourists and local residents.
According to him, there are several trigger points of the relationship between the local population and tourists: being in the territories that are a scarce resource, the “jealousy ” of the local population to their land, the ethnic characteristics of the indigenous people, which sometimes seem not hospitable.
“The business must be responsible and inform its customers who are being brought to us.
Tour operators, managers who work with tourists and prepare them for their arrival in our or any other region of the Russian Federation, should convey to the guests the features of their stay on the territory.
Another, very ambitious, but, in my opinion, effective idea to enter into cooperation with navigation companies, in order to notify tourists about the places where they stop, ” Ayas Todoshev offered his vision of solving the tasks outlined earlier.
Director for Environmental Protection and Sustainable Development of Krasnaya Polyana Resort Lev Shagarov spoke about how the tasks outlined by the previous speaker are solved in Krasnaya Polyana and what benefits local communities can receive from sustainable tourism.
“I believe that the first point of our future Tourist Code should be the point that there are no bad tourists.
All the problems voiced are often the imperfection of the tourist product and comments to the organizers on the ground.
The tourism product must be designed to be sustainable, taking into account environmental, socio-economic and cultural aspects.
It is necessary to work in this direction systematically, creating opportunities for local residents to develop their careers and sell products, take care of the preservation of natural and cultural heritage, ” said Lev Shagarov.
Irina Melnikova, General Director of the Ambassador Kaluga Hotel, a member of the Committee for the Development of Sustainable Tourism of the PCT, shared an inspiring example of the development of the region through the hotel with the participants of the session.
“In order to attract more tourists, we have become not just a hotel, we have become a tour operator in the region: we make environmental expeditions, industrial, gastronomic, rural and children ’ s, socially oriented tours.
We talk about our culture, our region, we talk about how it is possible to live in it – “we taste it ”.
We create the eco-history of our region, and our guests are also involved in the process, ” Irina Melnikova shared her experience of an ecosophic approach to doing business.
Olga Balkunova, chief designer of the ski union of Russia, volunteer of the expedition “In the footsteps of the snow leopard ”, told about the interactive solutions used in working with tourists on the example of the activity of the snow leopard park-museum:“ When I began to create a park-museum of the snow leopard, I divided it into zones so that, entering each, a tourist from a modern civilization was 360 degrees surrounded by Altai.
To transmit information through several channels at once.
The idea is that for high-quality tourist information it is not necessary to build offices or develop the investment potential of the region.
It is enough to create vivid interactive stories that recreate natural processes. ”
The head of the project “Pure Altai ” Inna Muklayeva touched on such a complex and painful topic as vandalism on natural objects of the Altai Mountains, trying to find out what it really is – a temporary phenomenon and destructive fashion or a large-scale environmental problem of our time.
She shared the story of her project, in which volunteers have been engaged in the gentle cleaning of rocks from vandal inscriptions left by tourists for four years.
“In the process of work, we realized that we need to interact with bloggers, media, youth movements, schools, because it is necessary to eradicate the cause of vandalism and it is necessary to start with schoolchildren and young people.
Therefore, this year we held meetings with a coverage of 400-500 people, including groups of participants in the projects of the presidential platform “Russia is a Land of Opportunities ”, who came to us as part of the“ More than a Journey ” program.
The guys saw that cleaning the rocks is an incredibly difficult job and in gratitude for our work, they offered cases and unexpected solutions to prevent pollution of the region, ” Inna Muklayeva, the head of the Clean Altai project, told about the practice of attracting young people.
The experience of attracting tourists-volunteers to work on Mount Belukha was shared by the General Director of LLC "GORA" and the founder of the movement "Trash Avalanche" Evgeny Egorov.
He spoke about how the actions for the collection and disposal of garbage are carried out, who takes part in them and what motivates the participants, and also shared his vision of the theses of the future Code of Responsible Tourist: “I propose to abandon the outdated principle of garbage burning.
It is necessary that the tourist take away what he brought with him.
You can include a recycling fee to pay for visits to national reserves.
It is necessary to change the legislative framework until the introduction of serious fines.
There is also a need for a focal point for volunteer organizations to make their work more efficient. ”
First Deputy Chairman of the Government of the Republic of Altai Vitaly Makhalov joined Victoria Saar, who noted that the Republic of Altai in the face of such a large number of professionals who have realized themselves in many businesses has acquired many new high-quality friends who are ready to apply their experience in Altai.
Also, Vitaly Makhalov outlined the vector of further development of the Altai Republic: “Together with you, we will prepare a resolution, provide a list of tasks that need to be completed before the next environmental forum in a year.
We want our friends to come to us, so that the Republic flourishes, develops correctly, noospherically, without anthropogenic load, so that the region becomes rich. ”
Vita Saar, head of the Ecosophy project at the Russia – Land of Opportunities presidential platform, thanked the organizers of the Forum — the Roscongress Foundation, the Government of the Altai Republic, the Altai Republic Development Center, as well as experts and participants of the forum, summing up the discussion with the words: “We had the honor to conclude the business program of the Nature Thread forum with this session and I am sincerely glad that the final chord turned out and memorable.
I am sure that by communicating with like-minded people and friends and joining the cultural and historical traditions of the Altai Republic, each of you will take home this new experience, this warmth of hospitality, and the thread of nature will stretch from the pearl of Siberia – the Altai Mountains to all regions of our vast country. ”
The forum is held with the support of the Title Partner of Sberbank, General Partners of REO, Phosagro.
Official partner of Sovcombank.