In 2020, Erdogan reconverted Hagia Sophia into a mosque; critics saw a hit to cultural diversity, supporters a reclaiming of Ottoman heritage.

A court annulled the 1934 museum decree, enabling a presidential order; Ankara calls the status an internal matter.

Pope Francis and the Ecumenical Patriarch condemned the move.

UNESCO objected, noting its 1985 World Heritage listing; several governments protested, while Turkey asserted sovereignty.

The Greek Orthodox Church denounced the change; critics said it elevates an Islamic past over secular foundations.

Controversy grew as mosaics of Jesus and Mary were covered to meet Islamic bans on figural imagery.

Analysts framed it as Islamo-nationalist strategy to shore up Erdogan’s conservative base.

Commentators linked the timing to elections and regaining conservative support.

The decision also distracted from economic troubles and consolidated presidential power.

Reports said it diverted attention from inflation, burnished Erdogan’s image, and complicated restoring Western partners’ trust.

Some tied it to wider Islamic resurgence and Turkey’s ascent.

Experts warned of falling fragments, humidity damage, and managing heavy visitation.

Turkey added separate entrances, access limits, and foreign-visitor ticketing and fees to aid conservation, in line with UNESCO advice.

Guided tours inside were curtailed, replaced by headsets and QR info; officials say the new fee funds preservation while balancing worship with protection and sharing.

UNESCO says Hagia Sophia is Common Heritage of Humanity and notes ongoing conservation; guides can stress verifiable facts on access, preservation, and rules to avoid debate.

The site holds deep meaning for Orthodox Christians and Muslims, often stirring strong emotions.

Balanced pragmatism and intellectual humility build respect in divisive conversations.

Active listening and empathy defuse tension and build trust in groups.

Use official tools to relay neutral information without disrupting worship.

In 2020, Erdogan reconverted Hagia Sophia into a mosque; critics saw a hit to cultural diversity, supporters a reclaiming of Ottoman heritage.

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Travel / Istanbul preserves the imperial glory
Istanbul, formerly known as Constantinople, is one of the bustling international metropolises. It is the economic, cultural and transportation center of Turkey, as well as a world-famous tourist destination. It was also the capital of the ancient Three Great Powers – the Roman Empire, the Byzantine Empire and the Ottoman Empire.
Ten years ago, I stood on the black coast of Batumi, a famous city in Georgia ’ s Black Sea. The azure sea showed before me, the sea breeze gently blowing in my face, and I looked fondly at the other side of the sea, the misty Istanbul, dreaming about when I could go to the other side.
Finally, on the Golden Week of the Spring Festival the year before last, I took a flight north to Turkey after a trip to Egypt with my wife and daughter.
Before the plane landed, I saw the earth in the air, the green Mamoras Sea and the curved Bosphorus Strait, three Eurasian land bridges on the strait clearly visible.
The plane flew north over the Black Sea, fluttered a beautiful arc, turned around and landed at Ataturk Airport, and I finally set foot in Istanbul, which has been my dream for 10 years.
Snow White Cotton Fort is a hot spring.
The next morning we flew to a cotton fort in the interior of Turkey.
The Bosphorus, Mamorah and Dardanelles straits are the dividing lines of Eurasia, dividing not only Turkey into two, but also the Istanbul metropolitan area. The Cotton Fortress is located in Asia, which is why we came to Asia from Europe.
When the plane landed at the airport south of Denizli, the sun was just rising on the Anatolian mountains, and the earth was painted with pale gold. The Cotton Castle is the site of the ancient Roman city of Hilápolis, a snow-white limestone formed by volcanic eruptions, and the rock formation of numerous hot springs.
Because of the rich hot spring resources in the area, the ancient Roman and Greek nobles used this as a healing place, and built the prosperous city of Hierapolis here in 190 BC.
At 9: 00 a.m., we entered the Cotton Fort, and in front of us was the snow-white limestone of the entire ring-shaped hillside, layered and crystal-clear, like cotton.
At this moment, the light sun is shining on the snow-white limestone, and the pale blue hot spring is rippling, and the water surface is reflected.
We took off our shoes and walked on the rocks wearing socks, some hurt feet and cool, the hot spring through the gully rushing down, the little girl soaked her feet in the hot spring, and was very happy.
2000 Old Town Theatre intact
Walking uphill through the Cotton-Fort area is the ruins of the city of Hirápolis, including the ancient cemetery, large baths, markets, arches, amphitheatres, the Temple of Apollo and ancient hot springs, which are scattered on the hillside from north to south.
When I sit in the amphitheater, I am not shocked by the majesty in front of me! The theater more than 2000 years ago is basically intact, and the entire theater is divided into 18 areas, which is easy for the audience to enter and exit; it is said that the theater can accommodate 15,000 people, looking up from the bottom, and the highest row of people seems to be in the sky.
As I sat in the top row, I could look beyond the stage and see countless sites such as the Temple of Apollo, which stands at the bottom of the hillside. Through the years, it has become more and more quaint, elegant and fragmentary in the sunlight.
Further up, we walked into the ruins of the ancient Roman market.
There is a large circular square in the middle of the market, and the tall Romanesque door tower is like an eight-petal lotus flower around the square.
I wandered through the market, shuttling between the doors, imagining the happy bustle of the crowd and the hustle and bustle of shopping in those years, and now all this prosperity is gone, leaving only the lonely ruins in front of me, abandoned on the desolate slope.
The whole afternoon lingered in the ruins, not by the sigh of a thousand years, white clouds and pale dogs.
We flew back to Istanbul that night, and when the plane landed at Ataturk, we were back in Europe from Asia.
Istanbul has a Mediterranean climate, and we are greeted by an endless, all-day rain.
We took the bus past the ancient city wall for miles and got off to Sultan Ahmed Square.
Looking up, you can see the towering square pillars, 32 meters high, which were built by the ancient Roman emperor Constantine VII in the 10th century in memory of his grandfather.
The column was originally filled with gold-plated bronze reliefs, but was later ransacked by the Crusaders and only the core pillars remain.
In front of the square pillars stands an ancient Egyptian obelisk, reflecting on the wet square floor.
This monument was originally built by the ancient Egyptian Pharaoh Thutmose III. It was erected in the temple of Luxor Kanak, which was purchased by Theodosius the Great from Egypt in 390 AD.
There is also a famous monument between the two pillars, the bronze snake pillar.
These three relics are like an open-air museum, adding to the splendor of the square, showing a sense of ancient history and glory.
The square itself is also an ancient Roman site, originally a huge arena that was expanded after the relocation of the Roman Empire; according to historical records, the arena is next to the palace to the east, completely modeled after the Roman Colosseum, but 40 meters longer.
The racetrack is paved with sand and can accommodate eight horse-drawn carriages, and the surrounding stands can accommodate tens of thousands of people to watch the race, and the Roman emperor can see the scene in the arena from the palace.
In 330 AD, the Roman emperor Constantine I moved the capital to this place and named it New Rome, which was soon renamed Constantinople.
The walls of Constantinople, built by Constantine I, extend westward from the north to the south.
Both north and south of the city are facing the sea, so the height of the two walls is only 12 to 15 meters, and the entire city is located on the hills behind the wall. From the sea, the merchant ships from afar can see the majestic buildings such as the palace, the arena and the Hagia Sophia.
The western end of the city was later rebuilt with a third wall, the 4.3 km long wall of Constantine.
Saint Sophia Cathedral Inclusion 2 Religions
In 395 AD, the Roman Empire split into Eastern and Western Rome, and Constantinople became the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantine Empire).
In the 5th century AD, the Byzantine emperor Theodosius II added the Theodosian wall to the west of the city wall built by Constantine, which doubled the area of the city. The enlarged wall of Constantinople was 21.5 kilometers long, of which the wall facing the Sea of Mamorah was 8 kilometers long, the side of the Golden Horn was 7 kilometers long, and the side of the land was 6.5 kilometers long.
This land wall design is incomparably complex, from the outside to the inside and in turn for the outer wall, the moat, the moat inner wall, the steep slope wall, the outer wall, the inner wall, the inner wall; the outer wall and the inner wall stand more than 300 towers, corner buildings and bunkers, forming a strong support system.
Constantinople faces the sea on three sides, plus the western land city defense system, bronze walls and iron walls, so that the city became a "barbarian" city.
The old city wall that we saw along the way is a remnant of the Byzantine Empire.
In the 6th century AD, a great generation of monarchs emerged in the empire, Justinian I.
He went on to conquer the West, and recovered a large part of the western lands lost by the Roman Empire. The weather of the revival of the Roman Empire was very good, and the Byzantine Empire entered its peak.
The city of Constantinople also entered the glorious period, most of the buildings are in the ancient Roman style, the main buildings include the above-mentioned walls, gates, palaces, squares, arches, public baths, cisterns and churches.
To the north of Augustus Square is the majestic Hagia Sophia.
This is the most glorious legacy Justinian has left in the history of architecture. Built between 532 and 537, this church became the center of Byzantine religion and Eastern Orthodoxy and became a symbol of the empire.
The Cathedral of St. Sophia uses the shape of a Greek cross on the plane, creating a huge dome in the space, but no pillars support the interior; the dome is 55 meters above the ground, and it was the largest church in the world until the completion of St. Peter ’ s Cathedral in the 17th century.
In 1453, the Ottoman Empire captured Constantinople, and the Eastern Roman Empire fell, and the Empire moved its capital there and renamed it Istanbul.
Sultan Mehmed II converted the cathedral into a mosque and added an Islamic minaret, and over the next 500 years it became one of the most important places of worship for Muslims.
After World War I, Turkey ’ s founding father, Kemal, converted it into a museum in 1934 and gradually became a famous tourist attraction.
Last year, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced the conversion of the Cathedral of St. Sophia into a mosque. On July 24 of the same year, he attended a Muslim service at the Cathedral of St. Sophia, the first religious event held in the church after nearly 90 years.
Entering the Cathedral of St. Sophia, visitors are amazed by the tall, domed dome and the exquisite Byzantine frescoes on the dome, especially the statue of the Virgin and Child on the top of the altar.
We walk through the spiral passage paved with medieval stone blocks to the second floor of the church gallery, which can be closer to and carefully admire the various corners of the church. In particular, we can see the wall of the gallery with many murals of Christian stories.
Overlooking the entire hall, you can feel the grand space design of the hall.
100,000 tons of underground water
Another architectural gem left behind by Justinian is the "Groundwater Palace".
Constantinople was built solid, but the rulers of the empire were still worried, and built a secret underground reservoir and brought water from the forests near the Black Sea, which could store up to 100,000 tons.
If the city is besieged during the war, it serves as a strategic reserve for the entire city to drink for a month; during the Song and Dance Period, it provides water storage for the palace and other palaces.
The reservoir is 140 meters long and 70 meters wide, with 336 Corinthian stone columns 9 meters high, supporting a huge brick vault with exquisite relief, and it is also called an underground palace.
There are two places in the park that are worth looking at.
One place is a weeping column, the underground humidity is large, specially designed a column, and the water drops flow down the column, as if someone is crying.
The other is a column supported by two inverted Medusa heads, decorated with figures from Greek mythology.
This revealed that the Byzantine Empire was passionate about Greek civilization, and its influence was everywhere.
Blue Mosque 6 Minaret Tower Rare
The next day we took the subway to Istanbul University Station, then took the light rail to Sultan Ahmet Square, passing through the square to visit the Blue Mosque.
The original name of the mosque is Sultan Ahmet Mosque, because the walls are all decorated with Iznik blue and white tiles, so it is also known as the Blue Mosque, which is a landmark of Istanbul.
The first thing we see is the mosque ’ s six long and towering minarets, full of lightness and spirit, and looking far away like the city in the sky.
The Blue Mosque is the largest domed building in Istanbul, with more than 30 domes rising up to the 41-meter diameter central dome.
Take off your shoes and enter the mosque, look up at a huge dome, and the sun shines through the stained glass of 260 small windows.
The four columns supporting the large dome are clearly chiseled, and the blue gold word Arabic on the column head and the black gold word Arabic on the column body are as beautiful as the pattern.
The shrine is an important part of the interior of the Blue Mosque, made of carved marble. Beside the shrine, there is a beautiful mission altar, and scholars stand on the altar to preach on Fridays at noon and religious festivals.
The Blue Mosque, an artistic masterpiece of the Ottoman Empire, took seven years to build and became an icon of the empire ’ s heyday.
It is said that the Ottoman Sultan asked the architects to build the minaret into gold, and the Turkish pronunciation of "gold" and "six" is very similar, so it became the only mosque in the world with six tall towers, and thus one of the ten wonders of the world.
Out of the Blue Mosque, gaze across the square, and you can see the minaret towering above the clouds, which is the “Mosque ” of St. Sophia, which we visited yesterday and features both Christian and Islamic architecture.
The two mosques are opposite each other and form a beautiful landscape in Istanbul.
We walked through the square and walked to Topkapi Palace.
The palace is the first officially built palace after the Ottoman Empire entered Istanbul. It has a strong Ottoman style royal architecture characteristics, mysterious and elegant.
The Old Palace is a former place of national ceremonies and royal entertainment, from the construction of the Topkapi Palace by the Conqueror Mehmed II in 1465 until 1853, nearly 400 years ago, it was the place where Sultans worked and lived.
There is a main entrance in the middle of a tall wall, which only the sultan could enter and exit, and it was called the "Gate of the Emperor". Through the main entrance, you enter the first courtyard and follow the courtyard path, and you can see a sacred peace church built in the Byzantine period on your left hand.
Continue forward to the welcome gate, which is a city gate with an octagonal tower on the left and right, like a castle gate.
When you look up at the door, you can see the Qur ’ an engraved on the door.
Pass security and walk into the second courtyard, looking at a large area of grass and flower beds.
Passing through the Gate of Happiness is the Venerable Room in the Third Courtyard, where the sultans and the Grand Vizier (equivalent to the Prime Minister) and generals met four days a week. Passing through the Third Courtyard and entering the Fourth Courtyard, it is the Baghdatin, with its interior walls decorated with Iznik tiles and shells.
At the edge of the platform is a small gold-topped pavilion, Ifthaya, from which you can see the Golden Horn Bay and the new urban area across from it.
We visited the four courtyards in turn, then turned back to the entrance to the harem of the second courtyard, and then visited the residence of the four wives of the sultan, the queen ’ s room, and the sultan ’ s bathroom.
We were dazzled by the golden splendour of the harem, the many rooms covered with fine tiles and the beautifully decorated scenes of life.
In front of the harem there is a quadrangular column building called the "Tower of Justice", which has been used to monitor the city and defend against external enemies, and is also a large landscape.
There is also an open-air restaurant with great views inside the palace. Here you can see the Bosphorus Strait, Eurasia Bridge, Istanbul ’ s new city district and the world ’ s smallest sea, the Mamora Sea.
At noon, the sun is still hiding behind the clouds, the light is not strong, the sea is full of green waves, and the silver bridge across the Eurasian continent in the distance, it is really pleasing to see.
Once out of the palace, we took the light rail through the bustling business district to the Galata Bridge, where we boarded a boat from the Golden Horn pier to explore the Bosphorus Strait.
The sky was clear, the sky was blue and white, the waves were flowing, and the boats were weaving.
Thousands of seagulls soar around the cruise ship, and the moving pictures of historical buildings, mosques, Galata Towers, and villas built on the mountains are displayed in turn, forming an absolutely beautiful exhibition of sea-view paintings.
When we crossed the first Eurasia land bridge, we came to the second Eurasia land bridge, and saw a fortified castle on the left bank, which attracted my attention, and regretted that we could not abandon the boat to go ashore to visit.
After an hour and a half of excursion, we disembarked and boarded the bridge, and looked at the city area on the north shore of the Golden Horn from the Galata Bridge.
Darkness falls on the ground, night falls, looking back at the old area on the right bank, by the mountains and the water, stars point, experience in the eyes, the lights of Suleiman Mosque live on the top of the mountain, suspended above thousands of households.
The New Palace witnesses the Westernization of Osman
On the third day, the weather changed.
My wife and daughter were tired and stayed at the hotel to rest. I went out alone. Take the subway to Taksim Square station, walk around Taksim Gezi Park, walk up or down the steep road, and after more than ten minutes to the sea, you can see the Dolmabach Mosque with a blue dome and a milky white wall. The road, facing the Dolmabachet clock tower.
Through the bell tower is the Dolmabache Palace.
Built in the middle of the 19th century, it is the last palace of the Ottoman Empire. Also known as the "New Palace", it is built in the style of the Baroque and neoclassical European palace. It is located on the coast of the European part of the Bosphorus. The building stretches 600 meters along the Strait, and the interior wall is covered with gold leaf, and the main body is made of white marble and Egyptian alabaster. And...
The palace has two main parts, namely the ceremonial palace, the harem and the concubine court, with 285 rooms, 43 halls and 6 Turkish baths.
Both inside and outside the palace are extremely luxurious and luxurious.
Among the most noteworthy attractions are the crystal staircase pillars in the ceremonial palace, as well as the large and spacious Imperial Hall, which has 56 columns and 4.5 tons of giant crystal chandeliers, and the golden throne of Sudan.
Compared with the old palace, the new palace is more elegant and luxurious, but less of the mysterious elegance of the Oriental palace, extremely European and modern, the degree of luxury is far more than the Meichun Palace in Vienna and most of the European palaces, and Versailles in France.
The courtyard of the new palace is larger than the four courtyards of the old palace, and the layout is also European style. There are fountains, statues, lawns, etc., especially the grand doors facing the Bosphorus Strait, which are beautifully decorated.
During World War I, the Ottoman Empire joined the Allies, and with the defeat of the Allies, the Ottoman Empire split, and the Sultanate was abolished two years later.
In this crisis, Kemal defeated the invaders and the military intervention of the European powers, saved Turkey, became the founder of the Turkish Republic, and the Ottoman Empire was destroyed. Kemal ruled for more than ten years, achieving great success, making Turkey secularized, Westernized, and modernized, becoming the model and standard of secularization of the Islamic state.
From the New Palace Tea House, I walked back to Taksim Square from the original road.
The square is the main transportation hub of Istanbul and the meeting place of the Turkish people for major meetings and processions.
In the center of the square stands a circular monument of independence to commemorate Kemal. Bronze reliefs show the father of the country ’ s glory.
Every year, thousands of Turks offer flowers to their Father of the Nation to express their admiration and gratitude.
Go southwest from Taksim Square to the north entrance of Independence Avenue.
This 4-kilometer pedestrian street, with many boutiques, music shops, cinemas, libraries, cafes, bars and restaurants, is a leisure avenue for Turks to shop and play, and is therefore known as Istanbul ’ s “Champs Elysees ”.
I wandered south from the north entrance to fully appreciate the Turkish way of life.
Local women have deep eyes and high noses, elegant temperament, and rarely have a headscarf, let alone a veil, revealing the inclusiveness and openness of the city.
The Turkish look is not very different from the Uighurs in Xinjiang, and it feels very friendly to deal with them.
There are many small streets on both sides of the street.
Look at the small streets on both sides, are downhill paths or stairs, leading to highways or community buildings, I found that Independence Street was originally built on a ridge.
As I walked, I looked at the buildings on both sides of the street, many of which were old buildings with long history or mottled ruins. There were government departments, consulates, various churches, etc. It can be said that this area occupied an important position in the political, economic and cultural life of the Ottoman Empire, and now it has become a paradise for ordinary people to relax, shop and entertain.
St. Anthony ’ s Church, Istanbul ’ s largest Roman Catholic church, is hidden behind an ordinary old neighborhood.
The entrance is not very eye-catching, easy to miss, I also accidentally saw the two red brick towers are different, with curiosity only to find that there is no hole in the sky.
As I walked along the street, there were art shows and begging, and on this street, foreign tourists could experience the secular life of the local Turks and fully experience the freedom, openness, romance and vitality of modern Istanbul.
Fort Rumeli World Military Miracle
The Bosphorus Strait, also known as the Istanbul Strait, is also known as the "Turkish Strait" (also known as the Black Sea Strait), along with the Mamora Sea and the Dardanelles Strait.
On the fourth day, my friend, Mr. Chung, accompanied us on a tour of the Black Sea Scenic Area, which allowed us to see both the Black Sea exit of the Bosphorus Strait and the entire Strait as we headed north along the coastal highway.
The weather is sunny, driving up the mountain road, and the scenery is spectacular when it comes to the sea canyon.
About half an hour later we drove to the cliffs of the sea and we finally saw the Black Sea.
When we got out of the car, we stood on a cliff, and the wind was fierce, stirring the waves.
In front is an endless sea, on the left is the jagged coastline, and on the right is the Bosphorus Strait exit, narrow like a stream, a rainbow bridge across both sides of the strait, is the third Eurasian land bridge just built in recent years.
There is a stone brick wall on the edge of the cliff, forming a strong wall.
There is a tunnel on the cliff leading to the military fortifications under the city wall. There are four underground tunnels for the army to hide or transport.
Nearby, there is also an artillery castle, built on a cliff, between the two towers built a curved wall barrier, the wall also opened dozens of guns facing the Black Sea, can be mounted dozens of cannons.
These two military fortifications, clear and dark, constitute a complete defense system and hold the first line of defense in the strait.
There is a small fishing village near the bridge under the cliff, dozens of residential buildings are built along the road, red tile and white wall, high and low, there is a small mosque is particularly eye-catching, and the minaret tower is unique.
Near the artillery castle, the small fishing village is like a paradise.
At that time, many fortifications were built on both sides of the Ottoman coastal fjord, and several lines of defense were built at each level to closely defend Istanbul.
One of the most complete preservation is the Fort Merry that we will visit in the afternoon.
From the Black Sea exit of the strait, we follow the original coastal mountain road to the south of the second Eurasian continental bridge, such as the Fort Merry is built on the European shore of the strait.
This is the narrowest point of the strait, only 750 meters wide.
The Anatolian Fortress was built on the coast of Asia.
The two fortifications echo in the distance, holding the throat of the strait, forming a tight and complete defense system.
When I set foot on Rumeli Fortress, I suddenly realized that this is the castle we saw on the sightseeing boat the day before yesterday!
For example, Merry Fortress covers an area of 30,000 square meters, mainly composed of three tower-shaped fortresses, the castle is connected by the city wall into a roughly quadrilateral group of fortresses, and there are many small towers similar to the main tower between the three main fortresses.
It was built by Mehmed II the Conqueror in only four months in 1452, before the conquest of Constantinople, and became a miracle in world military history.
The fort is built according to the mountain situation, high and low, magnificent and full of spirit, it is the most beautiful fort in the existing military buildings in the world.
When we climb the steps from the foothills, climb the highest main tower fort, look back, the straits like green streamers, the second continental bridge is like a long rainbow lying wave, and the Turkish red flag on the circular fort under the mountain is fierce and fierce, forming a permanent map of the river and mountains.
At the end of our visit to Fort Merry, Mr. Chung drove us to Ataturk Airport. Istanbul, the soulful city of Istanbul, goodbye!
Expect another day to meet again!
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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.

A court annulled the 1934 museum decree, enabling a presidential order; Ankara calls the status an internal matter.

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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.

What legal action enabled the 2020 reconversion of Hagia Sophia into a mosque?

1934 cabinet decree annulled by President Erdogan

Pope Francis and the Ecumenical Patriarch condemned the move.

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

UNESCO objected, noting its 1985 World Heritage listing; several governments protested, while Turkey asserted sovereignty.

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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
DBA
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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The Greek Orthodox Church denounced the change; critics said it elevates an Islamic past over secular foundations.

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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

How did Muslims and Orthodox Christians react to the reconversion?

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

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

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

Controversy grew as mosaics of Jesus and Mary were covered to meet Islamic bans on figural imagery.

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

Sultan Mehmed II converted Hagia Sophia into a mosque,

Analysts framed it as Islamo-nationalist strategy to shore up Erdogan’s conservative base.

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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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.

Commentators linked the timing to elections and regaining conservative support.

Title:

Content: Libya is urgent now.
How can we understand Turkish foreign policy?
News source / Independent
Ankara continues the political volatility we have been accustomed to since President Recep Tayyip Erdogan came to power, but things are now going at an unprecedented pace.
After a severe escalation and threats of military action in the Kurdish areas, northeast of Syria, where it is in a sharp turn talking about Turkish-Syrian contacts between the parties concerned, but the fact that Turkey has not stopped in the era of its current president to produce transformations and fluctuations to an extent that raises questions.
A quick look at what ’ s happening now compared to what she ’ s been doing for years, even months, may seem too surreal.
Infinite Contradictions
After years of increasing Turkish openness to the countries of the region and a great improvement in political and economic relations with most of its Arab and other neighbors, the Turkish role has emerged in a new way, as if it is leading the Arab changes and uprisings, which carried a clear encouragement to the factions of political Islam, especially the Muslim Brotherhood, who jumped to power in Egypt and became a major political player and partner in Tunisia. Armed militias and political forces have the support and encouragement of Turkey, Qatar and the West.
In just two years, Turkey ’ s influence and prestige reached its maximum since the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, and things turned around with the Egyptian uprising on June 30, 2013 and the overthrow of the Muslim Brotherhood ’ s rule.
Turkey immediately led the campaign against Egypt and these transformations that have traditionally emerged against the forces of political Islam in these arenas — the various arenas of regional conflict.
In Syria, it continued its relations and close support for the armed opposition factions, until things reached in this arena with the massacres of ISIS and al-Qaeda that affected thousands of Christians, Muslims and all minorities, to the Western disavowal of these forces, and the Obama administration was forced to intervene against these organizations with some incessant and inaccurate aerial bombardment, and thus did not prevent them from continuing to control most of Syrian territory.
This led to large-scale Russian intervention, which completely changed the political and military equation.
Here, Moscow managed the new equation by establishing the Astana platform, which brought together the contradictory forces of intervention or political occupation, namely Russia, Turkey and Iran, and succeeded in gradually marginalizing the UN platform without completely abolishing it, but maintained the Turkish role, which became the real sponsor of the forces and currents of political Islam regionally, not only in Syria.
In the Libyan arena, Turkey exercised its main role as the first supporter of the project of political Islam, which enables it to play a leading role, and began with the first intervention in support of the “Libya Dawn ” Brotherhood forces with a number of Syrian mercenaries and“ ISIS ” whom it transferred from Syria to Misrata, as it has a historical presence that developed a lot after the overthrow of Gaddafi.
This allowed forces close to it to take control of Tripoli airport in 2014.
This was followed by a deepening of its relations with the Government of National Accord headed by Fayez al-Sarraj, which came to power in 2015 on the basis of a UN initiative, and then came its major intervention in 2019 with the direct military support of its advisers and mercenaries, whom it transferred from Idlib, where it controls it in northwestern Syria, having previously concluded military and political alliance agreements with the Government of National Accord (whose legality is questionable).
Without going into the details of the complex scene in Libya and its developments, Ankara is still the main supporter of the forces of political Islam as the scene turned to the military stalemate, after the Egyptian warning of the crossing of extremist militias to the Sirte line near the middle of the country.
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This section contains related articles, placed in (Related Nodes field)
On the other hand, Ankara has not achieved a breakthrough from its leadership to oppose the transformations in Egypt, host a number of Brotherhood leaders and direct a number of media channels against the regime.
The scene turned into a media and political confrontation between Cairo and Ankara, supported by the latter ’ s isolation and the decline of its regional status.
In addition to the Egyptian scene are gradual transformations in Tunisia, which in turn witnessed a sharp decline in the project of political Islam, which in turn represented another setback for the Erdogan policy, which presented itself as the first supporter of the project of political Islam regionally and globally.
It is not possible to separate the scene of the overthrow of Bashir in Sudan and the retreat of the Islamic Salvation Front from the top of the Sudanese scene, while the chances of its presence remain, to add this to all the details of the decline of the Islamic political project regionally.
Turbulence of the Turkish position
Almost two years ago, the signs of a gradual Turkish retreat began, and this began after the confrontation between them and Egypt in the Libyan arena, and its sense of regional isolation and the lack of American acceptance in particular of further Turkish involvement in this arena and satisfaction with what has been done.
Then began the public political dialogue between the foreign ministries of the two countries, which resulted in a relative improvement in the language of political confrontation and a limited Turkish response, represented in the removal of some symbols and channels of the Brotherhood opposition from Egypt, followed by an increased Turkish openness to the Gulf States, and even a noticeable improvement with both Saudi Arabia and the UAE after a long period of deterioration in relations. Closing all the files of the dispute, especially Libya, although Erdogan ’ s statements after ending the page of the dispute with Israel, is to restore the momentum of relations with Egypt.
However, it is possible to observe the dramatic changes in the sudden and hot improvement of relations with Israel, since the deterioration of relations between the two countries due to the Gaza crisis, and then came the transition from the talk of military escalation and storming Syrian territory under the pretext of chasing the Kurdish opposition, and from a political discourse strongly hostile to the Assad regime. It is not yet certain, but it reflects huge changes that cannot be ignored.
Understanding the Keys of Turkish Politics
Those who consider that Ankara has adopted the project of political Islam as a real ideology of the state, may seem to him these transformations are incomprehensible, but the real key to understanding the real orientations of Erdogan lies in two main dimensions or axes, namely the use of political Islam as an ideological cover for the idea of restoring the historical glory of the Turkish nation and its vital surroundings....
For Erdogan, his personal belief in the Islamic identity of his country, espoused by his party, can be distinguished from his deep awareness of the need for ideological or intellectual cover to restore what he imagines as imperial glory and a dominant place for his country in its geographical and international environment.
This is inseparable from the fact that the issue of the employment of religion in politics is always aimed primarily at political interests and benefits.
Pragmatism is also inherent in the Erdogan Turkish mind, which constantly seeks to promote its economic interests, and this pragmatic feature explains its political movement in line with the US-Western position on the Ukrainian crisis, while at the same time continuing to strengthen the relationship with Moscow, betting that it will convince Washington and the West of the importance of its role in the role of mediators already proven in settling the issue of Ukrainian grain exports. The most important dimensions of the current motives are Erdogan ’ s readiness for the next round of presidential elections and confronting his current opponent – his former ally – Ahmet Davutoglu, in an attempt to return to “zero problems ” in Turkey ’ s foreign policy, which was the entrance to its rising position before being eroded by its policies since the Arab Spring.".
In all cases, Ankara continues to maintain an almost continuous international presence in the last two decades, despite the multiplicity of its titles and the contradiction of its orientations and the multiplicity of its missteps and setbacks.
Their motivations are characterized by continuity: the pursuit of continuous economic and political interests, the strengthening of their geopolitical importance to both the West and Russia, and a superior ability to practice contradictions without shame, taking advantage of the features of a world governed by paradoxes, chaos and addiction to oblivion.
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The decision also distracted from economic troubles and consolidated presidential power.

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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.

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Reports said it diverted attention from inflation, burnished Erdogan’s image, and complicated restoring Western partners’ trust.

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Content: The Turkish leader needs these talks for several reasons.
About this 24 channel said political scientist Nikolai Davydyuk.
Worthy of attention, Erdogan again offered Putin to hold a meeting with Zelensky in Turkey
What talks with Putin give Erdogan
Original leadership
He (Erdogan - Channel 24) smouldering ambitions to be a pasha, he always dreamed of being a purely Turkish historical character, actually influencing the politics of the region,
said the political scientist.
According to Davidyuk, so far Turkey has managed to maintain neutrality.
In an interview with the BBC, Leonid Kuchma noted that the Bosphorus does not miss Russia ’ s reinforcements and produces Ukrainian grain.
In addition, Turkey remains a reliable partner of Ukraine in the implementation of strategically important projects and areas of cooperation.
We are talking, in particular, about the Bayraktar drones.
“Yes, it trades (Turkey – Channel 24) with Russia, and it carries ships in Sochi and sells fish.
But the balance of good and evil is preserved, ” the political scientist believes.
Ability to negotiate with major Western leaders
It should be understood that Erdogan hopes to get to negotiations with major Western leaders, whose trust he has lost and has long been trying to regain.
It is equally important that today in Turkey inflation is at the level of 80%.
Therefore, the president needs to distract people ’ s attention, show some other policy.
Therefore, Erdogan will refocus on “international ”, will demonstrate his skills there.
He understands that the population needs to offer something, because soon the elections that he needs to win, ” says the political scientist.
A chance for Turkey to become a peacemaking platform
As Davidyuk notes, Erdogan will want peace agreements to take place in Turkey on his territory.
It is very important for him to become a platform for a peaceful settlement.
Turkey is in a belt of conflict – from Syria and Iran to the Caucasus.
It will want to become such a peacekeeping platform, which can be Switzerland between the Caucasus, the Black Sea and the Middle East.
He needs to become an arbitrator who will build his geopolitical muscles,
Davidyuk summed up.
On the topic – what Erdogan and Putin agreed on: watch the video

Some tied it to wider Islamic resurgence and Turkey’s ascent.

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Content: Earthquakes and rampant inflation: Why did Erdogan win again?
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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?

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

Experts warned of falling fragments, humidity damage, and managing heavy visitation.

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

Video Shows Fragments Falling from the Dome of Hagia Sophia

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Source: Greek Reporter

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Turkey to implement visitor management policy at Hagia Sophia

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Turkey added separate entrances, access limits, and foreign-visitor ticketing and fees to aid conservation, in line with UNESCO advice.

Guided tours inside were curtailed, replaced by headsets and QR info; officials say the new fee funds preservation while balancing worship with protection and sharing.

UNESCO says Hagia Sophia is Common Heritage of Humanity and notes ongoing conservation; guides can stress verifiable facts on access, preservation, and rules to avoid debate.

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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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The site holds deep meaning for Orthodox Christians and Muslims, often stirring strong emotions.

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

Balanced pragmatism and intellectual humility build respect in divisive conversations.

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Content: Newswise — WASHINGTON – Civilized political debates may seem increasingly out of reach as democracies across the world face rising polarization, but people still want to discuss issues with people they disagree with – especially those who present themselves as balanced and willing to seek solutions that work for everyone or open to learning new information, according to two studies published by the American Psychological Association.

One study, published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, examined how U.S. politicians and ordinary Americans with opposing political beliefs could share their ideas on divisive issues in a way that improved respect regardless of political party.

While reviewing a video series featuring real-world politicians solving political dilemmas designed to help voters evaluate the thoughtfulness of political candidates, researchers realized that the videos made viewers from the opposing party more open to learning about the politicians’ platform. They found this was because the videos made the politicians look balanced and pragmatic, two key characteristics of wise decision makers.

“It’s easy for us to think about members of both parties as being completely biased in favor of their side. But what happens so much of the time is that people talk past each other or show more interest in pointing out the ridiculous things the other side is doing rather than actually finding solutions,” said co-author Curtis Puryear, PhD, a post-doctoral researcher in the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. “Our findings suggest that if you show you care about understanding the other side’s concerns, it goes a long way towards fostering respect.”

Puryear and co-author Kurt Gray, PhD, of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, conducted eight experiments with more than 3,500 participants to test the effectiveness of political messages that relied on balanced pragmatism, an approach to conflict that focuses on showing concern for both sides’ interests while prioritizing practical solutions.

In one experiment, 505 Americans from different political parties evaluated a series of posts on the social media platform X by members of the U.S. House of Representatives. From a sample of more than 50,000 posts made by the representatives’ official accounts, the researchers selected 120 posts that discussed political issues without criticizing the opposing party and varied in how balanced and pragmatic each post was.

Each participant evaluated 30 posts, rating them based on how balanced and pragmatic each post seemed, the post’s overall tone, how divisive the post seemed, how much they respected the politician and how interested they would be in hearing more about the politician’s point of view.

The researchers found that posts that combined balance with pragmatism were the most likely to increase participants’ respect for a politician and their willingness to engage with them. Posts in which a politician mainly expressed a desire to find effective solutions improved participants’ respect regardless of party, but this was not as effective at garnering respect compared with politicians who also presented a balanced view of an issue. The benefits of balanced pragmatism for fostering respect were even more pronounced for posts discussing highly divisive issues, like immigration and abortion.

“Logical analyses and strong arguments can make us see someone as competent, which is a trait we value in leaders and friends,” said Puryear. “But people also want leaders who understand their constituents, who care about their concerns, and have the practical knowledge to find solutions. These are the qualities of balanced and pragmatic leaders.”

In another experiment, researchers focused on whether ordinary Americans could also use balanced pragmatism to improve their political conversations. They recruited 211 Democrats in favor of decreasing deportations of undocumented immigrants and 85 Republicans in favor of increasing deportations. The participants were shown four comments written by participants in a previous experiment who argued their position on deportation using either balanced pragmatism or logical reasoning.

Overall, people were just as likely to say they wanted to have a conversation with someone who disagreed with their views on immigration when that person appeared balanced and pragmatic as they were to say they wanted to talk with someone from their own political party.

While it can be difficult for people to present their views on a divisive issue in a way that respects an opposing viewpoint and looks for a common solution, it could help solve the rising political animosity that we are facing, Puryear said.

“Being balanced and pragmatic takes effort,” he said. “But it is like building any other habit: Changing how we approach politics takes commitment and practice. We can each take it upon ourselves to do that.”

Another study, published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, found that people could be willing to discuss controversial topics, such as gender-neutral language, with people who had opposing views when both express intellectual humility.

Intellectual humility is the recognition that your knowledge has limits and your beliefs could be wrong. It does not mean that someone who is intellectually humble is insecure or that they don’t have informed opinions, only that they are willing to acknowledge that they do not know everything.

“Intellectual humility could be an important aspect when trying to understand how to help people engage in these discussions on divisive issues,” said the study’s lead author, Larissa Knöchelmann, MSc, a research fellow and advanced PhD student at Philipps-Universität Marburg. “Political discussions are important for a democratic society. When people have conversations, they can learn about new perspectives, reduce misunderstandings and work together.”

The researchers conducted four experiments with more than 1,600 participants. In one experiment, they asked 451 Germans about their beliefs regarding the COVID-19 vaccine and whether it should be mandatory, a highly polarized debate in Germany when the experiment was conducted. They were then asked to imagine an online meeting with a new neighbor whose views on vaccination were either the same as or contrary to theirs. They also saw a statement from their neighbor that indicated whether controversial discussions were “boring” because the neighbor felt they knew enough about the topic already or “exciting” because it was an opportunity to learn more.

The researchers found that intellectually humble participants had warmer feelings and more positive evaluations toward groups of people with different political opinions.

Additionally, intellectual humility shaped whether participants were willing to interact with others or not. While non-humble participants would rather talk with someone who shared their opinion, intellectually humble participants did not discriminate between those having the same or a contrary opinion. Overall, intellectually humble conversation partners were approached more and avoided less because participants perceived them as more likeable and the respective conversation as more calm, comfortable and open.

“Many German citizens have the impression that open political debates and an exchange of opinions are not possible anymore. This is especially the case when it comes to emotionally charged political topics,” said Knöchelmann. “Our research now shows that intellectual humility can help to make people more willing to engage with others.”

Articles: “Using ‘Balanced Pragmatism’ in Political Discussions Increases Cross-Partisan Respect,” by Curtis Puryear, PhD, Northwestern University, and Kurt Gray, PhD, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, published online March 7, 2024.

“Effects of Intellectual Humility in the Context of Affective Polarization: Approaching and Avoiding Others in Controversial Political Discussions,” by Larissa Knöchelmann, MSc, and J. Christopher Cohrs, PhD, University of Marburg: Philipps-Universität Marburg. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, published online May 13, 2024.

Contacts: Curtis Puryear can be contacted via email at [email protected]. Larissa Knöchelmann can be contacted via email at [email protected]

The American Psychological Association, in Washington, D.C., is the largest scientific and professional organization representing psychology in the United States. APA’s membership includes over 157,000 researchers, educators, clinicians, consultants and students. Through its divisions in 54 subfields of psychology and affiliations with 60 state, territorial and Canadian provincial associations, APA works to advance the creation, communication and application of psychological knowledge to benefit society and improve people’s lives.

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Journal of Experimental Psychology: General

Active listening and empathy defuse tension and build trust in groups.

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Content: rus
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Lifehacks
How to be the perfect interlocutor: Expert advice
Vladislav Moskalenko
Mastering the art of effective communication is important for constructive interaction.
UAportal has prepared the basic strategies that will help to become an ideal interlocutor.
Active hearing
Active listening involves the full concentration of attention, understanding, responding and remembering what is said.
By providing feedback to the interlocutor, the person can demonstrate full engagement in the conversation, promoting deeper communication and open and honest communication.
Real interest
By asking open questions, you can encourage the interlocutor to talk more about themselves and their experiences, which contributes to the establishment of a deeper connection.
In addition, paraphrasing the words of the interlocutor demonstrates genuine interest and understanding of what he expresses.
Non-verbal communication
Pay attention to body language, maintain eye contact, and use gestures to express compassion and understanding.
These subtle actions can convey warmth and build rapport with the person you ’ re talking to.
In addition, mirroring another person ’ s body language can create a sense of connection and harmony in communication.
Read also: How to make a good impression on the interlocutor: tips
Favorable environment
It is important to create a safe and non-judgmental space in which another person can express themselves.
Words of encouragement, constructive feedback, and empathy for the emotions of the interlocutor can help build trust and communication between both sides.
Patience and understanding
To be an excellent interlocutor, you need patience and understanding.
Allowing the other person to speak fully, listen without interrupting, and refrain from making hasty judgments is crucial.
It is also important to show empathy and try to understand the point of view of the interlocutor before offering your thoughts.
Also, practicing mindfulness and being present in a conversation can increase patience and understanding.
Let us remind you that we have already written how to quickly and easily reveal your potential.
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Use official tools to relay neutral information without disrupting worship.

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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.

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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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