The 2020 reconversion of the Hagia Sophia into a mosque by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has generated intense controversy, rooted in the site's layered history, its UNESCO World Heritage status, and the religious and political implications of the decision.

The Hagia Sophia, originally constructed as a Byzantine cathedral in 537 AD, was converted into a mosque after the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople in 1453, and then secularized into a museum in 1935 under the reforms of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.

This transformation into a museum was widely seen as a symbol of Turkey’s secularism and its commitment to a multicultural, shared heritage, reflecting both Christian and Islamic histories .

Critics argue that Erdoğan’s 2020 decision to reconvert the Hagia Sophia into a mosque prioritizes its Islamic past at the expense of its Christian heritage, fundamentally altering its status as a symbol of coexistence and multi-faith living practices .

The move is seen as undermining the Hagia Sophia’s role as a monument of shared human heritage, which is central to its designation as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

UNESCO and other international bodies have expressed concern that the reconversion threatens the site’s universal value and the principles of protecting shared heritage, emphasizing the need to maintain its accessibility and significance for all humanity, not just for one religious group .

The religious undertones of the reconversion have been a focal point of criticism.

The Greek Orthodox Church condemned the move as "ill-advised," arguing that it undermines Turkey’s commitment to religious tolerance and freedom .

The rededication as a mosque has led to restrictions on access for non-Muslims, including the imposition of an entrance fee for tourists and limitations on access to certain areas within the site, which were previously open to all as a museum .

The Turkish Directorate of Religion’s management of the Hagia Sophia has also been criticized, particularly regarding the preservation of its Christian art and architecture.

Islamic traditions prohibit depictions of human figures in places of worship, leading to the covering of Christian mosaics and icons since the mosque’s reopening, which has been interpreted as a loss of cultural heritage and a step back from the site’s previous status as a museum that allowed for a more inclusive appreciation of its history .

Secularists and minority religious groups in Turkey perceive the reconversion as signaling a move toward a more Islamist agenda, raising fears of increased religious polarization in a country historically proud of its secularism .

Özgür Kaymak, a researcher on minority rights, noted that the conversion implies a hierarchy that elevates the Islamic narrative while diminishing the significance of other faiths, including Greek Orthodox, Armenian, Jewish, and Syriac traditions .

This shift is seen as reflecting a more exclusionary interpretation of Turkish identity, favoring Islamic heritage over the secular, multicultural legacy established in the early 20th century, and raising fears of increased polarization and tensions with minority groups, especially local Christian communities who view Hagia Sophia as a vital part of their cultural and religious identity .

The political motivations behind Erdoğan’s decision have been widely discussed.

Many analysts interpret the reconversion as a politically motivated move aimed at consolidating support among conservative, nationalist, and Islamist segments of the Turkish population, especially following electoral setbacks and amid economic difficulties .

The timing of the reconversion, shortly after significant electoral defeats for Erdoğan’s party, suggests a strategy to rally nationalist and religious sentiments and divert attention from pressing domestic issues .

Erdoğan himself framed the conversion as a historic triumph, linking it to broader Islamic aspirations and national pride, and portraying it as a glorious chapter in Turkish history .

Critics argue that the act is less about religious devotion and more about political strategy, using the Hagia Sophia as a tool to strengthen Erdoğan’s political position and assert a more prominent Islamic identity for Turkey, which some see as coming at the expense of the country’s secular and multicultural traditions .

Internationally, the reconversion has drawn widespread criticism and diplomatic tensions.

Greece, the United States, UNESCO, and various Orthodox Christian institutions have expressed concern, emphasizing the importance of maintaining the Hagia Sophia’s status as a monument of shared human heritage rather than a site of religious exclusivity .

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis described the decision as an affront to Istanbul’s rich history as a cultural crossroads, while the U.S.

State Department urged Turkey to preserve access to sites reflecting its diverse religious heritage .

UNESCO and global leaders have highlighted the need to preserve the monument’s universal significance, warning that the reconversion could violate international agreements on the preservation of cultural heritage sites and potentially diminish its value as a symbol of coexistence .

The reconversion has also had practical implications for tourism and the preservation of the site.

Since 2020, Hagia Sophia has seen a dramatic increase in visitors, reportedly receiving 21 million visitors, which has exacerbated existing structural issues and raised concerns about the building’s safety and the adequacy of its maintenance under its new status as a mosque .

Reports of fragments falling from the dome and warnings from experts about the risk of catastrophic structural failure have prompted calls for urgent restoration efforts .

Turkish authorities have announced plans for long-term maintenance and a visitor management policy, including charging foreign tourists an entrance fee starting in January 2024, aiming to enhance the quality and safety of visits while preserving the site’s historical significance .

The controversy surrounding the Hagia Sophia’s reconversion is part of a broader trend in Turkey, where other historical sites, such as the Chora Church, have also been converted back into mosques, signaling a shift in Turkey’s cultural and political identity under Erdoğan’s leadership .

This trend has reignited debates about Turkish identity, nationalism, and the role of Islam in public life, with supporters viewing the reconversion as restoring the Hagia Sophia’s rightful place as a mosque, while opponents see it as politicizing a cultural monument that belongs to all humanity .

Public opinion within Turkey is divided.

Many conservative Muslims celebrate the reconversion as a restoration of Islamic heritage and a national victory, while secularists and liberal groups worry about the implications for Turkey’s secular framework and the potential for increased religious polarization .

Among Turkish Muslims, the reconversion has been celebrated as a symbol of the Conquest and a restoration of Islamic heritage, but this positive sentiment is not universal, with significant opposition from secularists, minority religious groups, and international observers .

In summary, the 2020 reconversion of the Hagia Sophia into a mosque by President Erdoğan has ignited a multifaceted controversy involving its historical and religious significance, UNESCO World Heritage concerns, political strategy, and international diplomatic tensions.

The decision is widely criticized for prioritizing Islamic heritage over the site’s Christian past, undermining its role as a symbol of coexistence and shared cultural heritage, and being perceived as a politically motivated act to consolidate Erdoğan’s support base.

The move challenges Turkey’s secular traditions, provokes international criticism, and raises concerns about cultural heritage preservation and religious tolerance, reflecting broader tensions in Turkey’s evolving political and social landscape .

The 2020 reconversion of the Hagia Sophia into a mosque by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has generated intense controversy, rooted in the site's layered history, its UNESCO World Heritage status, and the religious and political implications of the decision.

The 2020 reconversion of the Hagia Sophia into a mosque by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has generated intense controversy, rooted in the site's layered history, its UNESCO World Heritage status, and the religious and political implications of the decision.

The 2020 reconversion of the Hagia Sophia into a mosque by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has generated intense controversy, rooted in the site's layered history, its UNESCO World Heritage status, and the religious and political implications of the decision.

The Hagia Sophia, originally constructed as a Byzantine cathedral in 537 AD, was converted into a mosque after the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople in 1453, and then secularized into a museum in 1935 under the reforms of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.

The Hagia Sophia, originally constructed as a Byzantine cathedral in 537 AD, was converted into a mosque after the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople in 1453, and then secularized into a museum in 1935 under the reforms of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.

The Hagia Sophia, originally constructed as a Byzantine cathedral in 537 AD, was converted into a mosque after the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople in 1453, and then secularized into a museum in 1935 under the reforms of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.

This transformation into a museum was widely seen as a symbol of Turkey’s secularism and its commitment to a multicultural, shared heritage, reflecting both Christian and Islamic histories .

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Will Turkey’s inflation crisis hurt Erdogan’s re-election chances?

A month before Turkey goes to the polls on May 14, the country’s inflation crisis is a major campaign theme as the six main opposition parties rally around Kemal Kilicdaroglu to create the strongest challenge strong ever thrown at President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. But analysts say dissatisfaction with Erdogan’s economic handling will not automatically translate into votes for Kilicdaroglu, especially given the prominence of cultural issues in Turkish politics.

It was telling that Erdogan focused on economic promises when he finally launched his presidential election campaign on April 11, more than two weeks after secular CHP leader Kilicdaroglu. Well, bring inflation down to single digits and save our country from this problem for good, President Erdogan told supporters at a stadium in Ankara.

Turkey indeed needs to be spared from inflation. While growth is robustthe most recent official statistics show inflation in progress over 50% year-on-year in March, after hitting a quarter-century peak of over 85% in October.

There is little doubt that the real numbers are much higher: it is very clear that the government has played with the numbers; the actual experience of ordinary citizens is considerably more dire, said Howard Eissenstat, a Turkey specialist at St. Lawrence University and the Project on Middle Eastern Democracy in Washington, DC.

The Turkish lira fell to one historically low against the dollar in March, the latest of its periodic meltdowns in the monetary and inflationary crisis that has rocked the Turkish economy since 2018.

experts blame the crisis on Erdogan’s belief against all economic evidence that high interest rates fuel inflation, prompting him to cut rates when tight monetary policy is needed to reduce inflation.

Really awful

All of this marks a colossal change from the economic outlook of the early years of Erdogan’s rule, when Western commentators touted him as a forward-thinking reformer.

Erdogan’s moderate Islamist party, the AKP, achieved an extraordinary feat in the 2003 Turkish elections, overcoming the secular hegemony cemented in the 1920s by the founder of modern Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. Turkey’s 2001 economic crisis was a major factor in the AKP’s victory and when Erdogan became prime minister in 2003, he set about reviving the economy and turning it into a powerhouse.

Buoyed by IMF support and buoyant conditions in Europe, Turkish GDP growth on average 7.2% from 2002 to 2007. Many voters in Erdogan’s central constituency, drawn from working class and socially conservative Muslim backgrounds in the heartland of Anatolia, the Asian part of Turkey, joined the ranks of the middle class.

But over the past five years, inflation and the currency crisis have affected all segments of Turkish society, from the Europhile bourgeoisie of Istanbul to the pious working-class voters of the heartland of Anatolia.

The daily life of Turkish citizens is compressed in very fundamental ways, Eissenstat said. People who consider themselves to be middle class have great difficulty maintaining a basic standard of living. And for the vast majority of Turks who live week to week and month to month at the best of times, the situation has become truly dire; the simple act of putting food on the table has become a major struggle.

Unreliable polls?

Polls suggest the president is losing support in the current economic climate. Erdogan and the AKP have been re-elected several times over the past twenty years, but the latest Mediapoll survey puts Kilicdaroglu slightly ahead for the first round, at 42.6% compared to Erdogan’s 41.1%.

I want change, said Selman Deveci, a voter in Konya, a traditionally pro-AKP territory in the heart of Anatolia. FinancialTimes. They screwed up the economy.

But Deveci wasn’t impressed by the opposition either: I don’t trust them.

Analysts speak of this attitude of disillusion with Erdogan, but skepticism about the opposition seems to be quite widespread, casting doubt on Kilicdaroglu’s head in some polls.

I’m not sure I have much faith in the polls, Eissenstat said. A lot of outside observers tend to assume that…because the economic situation is bad, people will jump ship, but not necessarily. I suspect that a fair number of AKP voters will return to it, having flirted with the idea of doing something else.

After all, many Western observers last time underestimated Erdogan, expecting in 2018 then-CHP leader Muharrem Ince to push the president to a runoff after a heated campaign. In the end, Erdogan won the necessary majority in the first round with 53%, winning 10 million more votes than Ince.

Culture War

The consequence of economics in determining elections is one of the oldest rules of politics, most famously summed up by the cliché It’s economics, stupid!, a staff mantra created by Bill Clinton’s campaign strategist James Carville during the successful challenge to George HW Bush for the U.S. Presidency amid the 1992 recession. But not all election campaigns take place in the kind of context that the United States had in 1992, when pervasive political tribalism was confined to its past and future.

A crack has run through Turkish society since the early 1920s, when Mustafa Kemal Atatürk severed the deep ties between Islam and politics that characterized the Ottoman Empire.

After coming to power, Erdogan slowly but surely brought Islam back to the heart of Turkish public life, eroding the power of Kemalism (so named for the secular philosophy espoused by the republic’s founder) and the deep military-judicial connection of the state that had long buttressed it.

THE anger Turkey’s mostly metropolitan secularists drew international attention during the 2013 Gezi Park protests in Istanbul, but Erdogan retained his popularity among his millions of supporters in the heart of Anatolia, many of whom hailed his triumph over the old establishment.

This cultural divide has many different characteristics from those seen in Europe and the United States. But the culture war stuff is important in Turkey as it is in the West, Eissenstat pointed out.

And the technological changes of the last decade amplify this phenomenon, he added: In a world of social media where we discover the world through the sources of information of our political choices, the identification and the Political ideologies play a more important role than before in voting behavior, as we have seen. not only in Turkey but in France, the United States and the United Kingdom.

That said, as a presidential candidate bringing together a heterogeneous bloc of opposition parties, Kilicdaroglu took a much more pragmatic stance on Turkey’s culture wars than his CHP predecessors.

Last year, Kilicdaroglu changed the CHP’s position on women’s headscarves, a totemic issue in Turkish politics. Ataturk had discouraged the wearing of the headscarf in the 1920s and his successors gradually introduced explicit prohibitions applicable in public institutions, which Erdogan later reversed in stages.

Not only did Kilicdaroglu say the CHP had made mistakes in the past in supporting restrictions on the wearing of headscarves, but he also endorsed a constitutional amendment confirming women’s right to wear them.

This strategy will make it easier for Kilicdaroglu to focus on the economy, suggested Ozgur Unluhisarcikli, director of the Ankara office of the German Marshall Funds. The cThe culture war is the main driver of Turkish politics, but not the only onehe said. Kilicdaroglu mitigated the impact of polarisation with his cuntvsilatory speech. SO THE the economy will play a bigger role than usual in these elections.

Back to Orthodoxy?

The Kilicdaroglu Economic Platform is a return to orthodox monetary policy and central bank independence. Beyond that, the opposition has avoided going into the smallest details of economic policy.

But while this is a simple answer to the inflationary crisis, the return to economic orthodoxy is not such an easy sell for the Turkish opposition.

The opposition promises a return to trust and normalcy, but their problem is that trust and normalcy require short-term pain, Eissenstat noted. That means they prefer to keep the conversation going about how Turkey got into this mess, keeping the election as a referendum on Erdogan, without too many questions about what the ruling opposition would look like.”

Building economic confidence and getting back to basics of governance is what Turkey needs, he concluded. But that wouldn’t necessarily be popular or easy.

Sources

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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

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

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

Critics argue that Erdoğan’s 2020 decision to reconvert the Hagia Sophia into a mosque prioritizes its Islamic past at the expense of its Christian heritage, fundamentally altering its status as a symbol of coexistence and multi-faith living practices .

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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.

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

Share.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The move is seen as undermining the Hagia Sophia’s role as a monument of shared human heritage, which is central to its designation as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The move is seen as undermining the Hagia Sophia’s role as a monument of shared human heritage, which is central to its designation as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The move is seen as undermining the Hagia Sophia’s role as a monument of shared human heritage, which is central to its designation as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

UNESCO and other international bodies have expressed concern that the reconversion threatens the site’s universal value and the principles of protecting shared heritage, emphasizing the need to maintain its accessibility and significance for all humanity, not just for one religious group .

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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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The religious undertones of the reconversion have been a focal point of criticism.

The religious undertones of the reconversion have been a focal point of criticism.

The religious undertones of the reconversion have been a focal point of criticism.

The Greek Orthodox Church condemned the move as "ill-advised," arguing that it undermines Turkey’s commitment to religious tolerance and freedom .

How did Muslims and Orthodox Christians react to the reconversion?

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

The rededication as a mosque has led to restrictions on access for non-Muslims, including the imposition of an entrance fee for tourists and limitations on access to certain areas within the site, which were previously open to all as a museum .

Title:

Content: Celebrations are an invitation to engage

December 20, 2019

In localities everywhere, celebration of the bicentenary of the birth of the Bab, herald of the Baha’i Faith, wasn’t an event.

It was part of a process of community building that is accelerating as it gives an ever-increasing number of Baha’is and friends an opportunity to build capacity and arise to express that capacity in service to society.

Home visits establish web of caring

The idea was born of discussion at Feast — where Baha’is gather every 19 days to worship, consult and socialize — in an area of Minneapolis, Minnesota. Baha’is there committed to visit 200 people in their homes between May and October, leading up to the bicentenary, and the concept spread to the rest of the city and beyond.

Announcements were sent out to the entire Baha’i community and reports of home visits started coming in. Another community asked to join the effort and was told, “Of course!”

“It was so exciting to see the variety of home visits,” one participant reflects. “We have friends checking on their friends, friends creating better relationships with their neighbors, visits to those in the hospital, visits to those who are in nursing homes/assisted living facilities, developing children’s class ideas, being of service by taking our elderly members on errands, etc.”

Organizers reported at the bicentenary that the goal had been met the weekend before. But Minneapolis Baha’is aren’t stopping there. A new goal of 200 home visits has been set, with a May target date. Incentives have been added to see how many new people can be visited and how many new people will participate in visiting others.

Bond with Arabic speakers cemented

Baha’is in Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas, who have been cultivating relationships with Arabic speakers reached out to those new friends and invited them to a bicentenary celebration. More than 60 attended.

The 20-some area Baha’is who speak Arabic formed a committee to plan the occasion. They assembled a list of people they’ve been reaching out to the past five years. The event was also promoted on social media.

“The program was rich in content, as well as cultural music,” reports a participant. “The film Dawn of the Light was shown, followed by many conversations about the Baha’i Faith.” A festive dinner capped the evening.

A celebration of community building

In Farmville, Virginia, a town of fewer than 7,000 people between Richmond and Lynchburg, a bicentenary celebration attracted 54 people, only a third of whom were enrolled Baha’is.

At least one person in each family present is engaged in Baha’i-initiated activities aimed at building community. The program was full of songs and prayers recited by children, junior youths and parents.

A member of the Board of Supervisors for Prince Edward County attended. And the manager of the neighborhood community center spoke of the changes she has seen in people of all ages since the message of Baha’u’llah came to Farmville two years ago and community-building activities started.

A family of five declared their faith in Baha’u’llah that evening after the message of the Universal House of Justice for the bicentenary was read and the video Dawn of the Light was shown. The entire family is involved in study circles, junior youth groups, children’s classes and devotional gatherings.

Teachings are music to director’s ears

A celebration in Los Angeles, California, also moved a participant to embrace the Faith of Baha’u’llah.

The man, who directs an orchestra that has performed numerous times at the Baha’i Center, has considered himself a Baha’i for more than a year — ever since hearing a talk on historical prophecies about the present age.

After the orchestra’s performance at the bicentenary, he made it official by signing a declaration card. Since then, the 20-member orchestra has performed at a Baha’i devotional gathering.

Participants learn about Faith in style

A hairstylist in Redmond, Washington, has long regaled customers who wish to hear it with Baha’i teachings and inspirational stories of faith in action.

Twenty-eight of those clients were sent special invitations to a bicentenary celebration there and attendees arrived to find the shop set up with gifts of chocolate boxes decorated with Baha’i writings and small cypress trees they could take home to plant.

The one planned day of celebration turned into three, with 52 total participants.

Shrine and gardens are centerpiece

Cognizant of the large local Jewish population, many of whom are curious about the Baha’i terraces in Haifa, Israel, the Baha’is of Westlake Village, California, specially invited neighbors and acquaintances to a bicentenary celebration that attracted a total of 100.

The gathering featured a number of exhibits and displays, including a large poster of the Shrine of the Bab on Mt. Carmel in Haifa and the surrounding terraced gardens. A video explained the significance of the Shrine, the gardens and adjacent buildings at the Baha’i World Center.

Other displays explained Baha’i teachings, the core activities of community building and the Baha’i Houses of Worship worldwide.

Actor Rainn Wilson talked about the teachings of the Bab and Baha’u’llah. The event culminated with reading of a letter from the Universal House of Justice, the global Baha’i governing council, that invites the larger community to join with Baha’is “to enable humanity to advance to the highest levels of unity.”

At a follow-up conversation on Nov. 21, 12 people had an opportunity to learn more about the Faith and how they can engage in community building.

Spirit extends to follow-up gatherings

The weekend after the bicentenary, Baha’is and friends who are engaged in community building in Decatur, Georgia, hosted a follow-up gathering to ensure that all their contacts could join in the celebration.

“Several participants were from our local ‘Meaningful conversations’ efforts, and then also neighbors and children and parents from our new children’s class came,” says an organizer.

After the film Dawn of the Light was shown, the significance of its message for humanity and of the Universal House of Justice’s letter for the bicentenary were discussed.

Going forward, plans include showing the films Light to the World and A Widening Embrace.

A marker along path of building community

In Palm Beach County, Florida, a large number of bicentenary participants had already joined in Baha’i community-building activities to make their neighborhoods better places to live.

“The bicentenary gave all an opportunity to celebrate the teachings that have put them on this path of service and draw inspiration for even greater efforts in the months and years to come,” one Baha’i says.

Relationships with many of these friends, neighbors and co-workers began with visits to their homes to introduce children’s classes and junior youth groups, or to invite them — regardless of their faith — to meet regularly for prayers.

Some have been trained to initiate and sustain such activities. A number have invited their own friends and family members to join in.

Seven teams of youth and junior youth participated in a game called "The Quest of Mulla Husayn" on Oct. 26. They searched around downtown Decatur, Georgia, for clues, listened to and shared stories, and learned about the spirit of the quest of Mulla Husayn to find the Promised One. Photo courtesy of Linda Ahdieh Grant
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Conversations abound at a Nov. 2 celebration at the Dallas Bahá’í Center, attended by about 140 people, many of whom are interfaith contacts of the Baha'is. Photo courtesy of Kambiz Rafraf
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No--In 1934, Ataturk turned it into a museum, making it a major tourist attraction and secular symbol in Turkey.

The Turkish Directorate of Religion’s management of the Hagia Sophia has also been criticized, particularly regarding the preservation of its Christian art and architecture.

The Turkish Directorate of Religion’s management of the Hagia Sophia has also been criticized, particularly regarding the preservation of its Christian art and architecture.

The Turkish Directorate of Religion’s management of the Hagia Sophia has also been criticized, particularly regarding the preservation of its Christian art and architecture.

Islamic traditions prohibit depictions of human figures in places of worship, leading to the covering of Christian mosaics and icons since the mosque’s reopening, which has been interpreted as a loss of cultural heritage and a step back from the site’s previous status as a museum that allowed for a more inclusive appreciation of its history .

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

Secularists and minority religious groups in Turkey perceive the reconversion as signaling a move toward a more Islamist agenda, raising fears of increased religious polarization in a country historically proud of its secularism .

Title:

Content: PRC, Inc.

Archaeologist Joel Klenck Reports Noah's Ark Will Bring $38 Billion Dollars Per Year to the Turkish Economy or Marxist Terrorism

Archaeologist Joel Klenck details how the rediscovered Noah’s Ark will provide $38 billion dollars per year of incremental revenue for the Republic of Turkey because Noah’s Ark is a fact, a foundational account to three world religions, and exclusively Turkish. If not protected, the Marxist PKK terrorist group will find and loot the Ark to support attacks against the Turkish military and civilians.

Lighthouse Point, FL -- (ReleaseWire) -- 05/20/2022 --Harvard University educated archaeologist, current president of the applied archaeology firm, PRC, Inc., non-profit Ararat Conservation, Inc., and former maritime executive, Joel Klenck, reports the rediscovered Noah's Ark will provide $38 billion dollars per year of incremental revenue for the Republic of Turkey because Noah's Ark is a fact, a foundational belief to three world religions, and the infrastructure surrounding the prehistoric barge is exclusively Turkish. Conversely, if the Turkish government does not guard the prehistoric barge on Mount Ararat, the Partiya Karkeren Kurdistane ("PKK"), a violent Marxist organization, will find the structure, loot the artifacts worth at least $100 million dollars, supporting attacks against Turkey for several decades.

Klenck confirms, "Noah's Ark is the greatest archaeological site in history. The Ark is in the southern gorge of greater Mount Ararat, 158 meters in length, in two general areas, within ten smaller locations, 3,900 to 4,700 meters in elevation, currently exhibiting 14 archaeological features, and accessed by tunnels 4 to 11 meters beneath the surface. The vessel dates to the Late Epipaleolithic Period (13,100-9,600 BC).

The maritime barge shows veneration for millennia, unique artifact placement, stone carvings, prehistoric diet, especially of chickpea, frozen animal dung, and carpentry using stone adzes, covered with pitch. Within the Ark are lithic tools, stone containers, and frozen vegetal baskets, textiles, cords, bone, and wood artifacts. The prehistoric vessel exhibits angled hulls, thousands of cages, sloping ramps, three decks, ballasts, and cargo holds. The structure matches descriptions in the Bible, Quran, and by Berossus and Josephus. Akkadian seals from 2,300 BC portray the Ark and Hittite tablets from 1,300 BC mention Noah.

Armenians hid Noah's Ark since 247 BC and improved its concealment to support Armenian independence. When this revolution failed, Catholicos Mkrtich Khrimian (1820-1907) issued orders to further conceal the Ark, a secret insured by Stalinist purges, which impacted Armenian history, and is causing a range of emotions. Klenck battles a group with ties to the PKK, who denigrate and destroy Noah's Ark, a prehistoric shrine for Islam, Christianity, and Judaism.

Klenck insists, "Noah's Ark will rocket tourism revenue in eastern Turkey because the prehistoric barge is a foundational belief in both Sunni and Shia Islam, Christianity, and Judaism. Noah's Ark will generate at least $38 billion dollars per year for Turkey because Noah's Ark is a belief that predates any schisms between and within these three faiths. In 2018 and 2019, religious pilgrimage comprised up to $92.1 billion dollars of annual income from only four countries."

For Shia Islam, the former CEO of Iran's Tourism Development Corporation, Gholamhossein Hosseini, states that Iran has 8,000 sacred sites and pilgrimage places, especially the religious cities of Mashhad, Qom, Shiraz and Tehran. Iran's deputy tourism minister, Vali Teimouri, states that in 2018 nearly 8 million tourists brought an average of $1,490 dollars per person or the equivalent of $11.92 billion US dollars into Iran.

For all Muslims, the Qur'an demands a pilgrimage to Mecca in the predominantly Sunni Saudi Arabia. According to 2019 data, tourism receipts in US dollars accounted for $19.85 billion in Saudi Arabia. For Christianity, Israel and Italy are primary places of religious tourism, with the latter being the ancestral origin of Judaism. Data from 2019 shows tourism receipts totaled $8.46 billion in Israel and $51.91 billion in Italy. Rome itself acquired $5.61 billion in tourism revenue.

The archaeologist explains: "What is special about Noah's Ark is all three faiths hold the prehistoric vessel to be a central tenet inviting all believers to venerate this monumental structure. Conversely, non-Muslims are forbidden to enter Mecca and Medina. Many Muslims find it difficult to travel to Israel. Muslims and Jews have little interest in visiting Italy, especially for religious tourism. However, Noah's Ark is a foundational belief in Islam, Christianity, and Judaism. The most zealous imam, fundamentalist preacher, and orthodox rabbi will venerate Noah's Ark.

Noah's Ark is on greater Mount Ararat, a Turkish national park near the city of Dogubayazit. Turkey is very equipped to accommodate the rediscovery of Noah's Ark. First, their military is very strong in the Agri Province. Second, their religious community is presided over by the Diyanet or Directorate of Religious Affairs, which manages multiple faiths within the Turkish Republic. Third, Turkish archaeologists are excellent in conserving maritime sites and wood architecture. Fourth, only Turkish companies provide flights to airports in eastern Turkey. Fifth, President Erdogan has championed the continuity of low interest rates, enabling the rapid buildup of infrastructure within eastern Turkey. This fiscal strategy is crucial for the construction of lodging, transportation, museums, and religious centers at the base of Mount Ararat."

"If Turkey's central government does not protect Noah's Ark," Klenck warns, "the PKK will find this archaeological site. The artifacts and architecture from the Ark are worth at least $100 million dollars. In the next several months, the PKK will be able to access the vessel and rob the artifacts from the family of Ahmet Ertugrul, who rediscovered the Ark. The PKK are staunch Marxists, oppose religious beliefs, and will sell Ark artifacts for weapons to fund terrorism. The PKK are renown for attacks against the Turkish military and soft targets, such as women and children. The region around eastern Turkey is notorious for its brisk trade in illegal antiquities and their exchange for weaponry by terrorist organizations such as the PKK and Al-Qaeda."

Klenck concludes, "For the Turkish Republic, Noah's Ark offers life or death. If President Erdogan and the Turkish military protect Noah's Ark, a sacred site lauded by the Muslim Prophet Muhammed, Jesus Christ, and the Patriarch Moses, the Republic of Turkey will acquire incredible prosperity as eastern Turkey becomes a global pilgrimage center. But if Turkey fails, the PKK will find the Ark and fund horrific attacks. President Erdogan and AK Parti must protect Noah's Ark."

About PRC, Inc.
Founded in 2007, PRC, Inc., provides comprehensive worldwide archaeological services including surveys, excavations, and research.

Title:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Read more:

Ramadan prayers return to Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia mosque after 88 years

Turkey says UNESCO criticism of Hagia Sophia conversion ‘biased and political’

Erdogan names ex-environment minister as his party’s Istanbul mayor candidate

Top Content Trending

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Özgür Kaymak, a researcher on minority rights, noted that the conversion implies a hierarchy that elevates the Islamic narrative while diminishing the significance of other faiths, including Greek Orthodox, Armenian, Jewish, and Syriac traditions .

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?

This shift is seen as reflecting a more exclusionary interpretation of Turkish identity, favoring Islamic heritage over the secular, multicultural legacy established in the early 20th century, and raising fears of increased polarization and tensions with minority groups, especially local Christian communities who view Hagia Sophia as a vital part of their cultural and religious identity .

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?

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?

The political motivations behind Erdoğan’s decision have been widely discussed.

The political motivations behind Erdoğan’s decision have been widely discussed.

The political motivations behind Erdoğan’s decision have been widely discussed.

Many analysts interpret the reconversion as a politically motivated move aimed at consolidating support among conservative, nationalist, and Islamist segments of the Turkish population, especially following electoral setbacks and amid economic difficulties .

Title:

Content: X

Indonesia

Indonesian fishermen save Virgin Mary from the sea

Act of vandalism is being seen as an 'event of faith' by Catholics

Catholics pray in front of the statue of the Virgin Mary saved from the sea. (Photo: Handrianus Atagoran)

A statue of the Virgin Mary that was reportedly dumped in the sea by a mentally ill man in Indonesia was rescued from the sea by fishermen in an incident that has moved Catholics to look at it through the lens of faith.

The statue was found by two fishermen in a bay near Lewoleba off Lembata, an island just east of the Catholic-majority island of Flores in East Nusa Tenggara province, on Nov. 24.

A video recording the moment they retrieved the floating statue went viral on social media and became a widely discussed topic among Catholics.

Rudi Keraf, one of the fishermen who found the statue, said at first he thought it was driftwood and his first reaction was to ignore it.

"But then something told me differently. My heart said I had to go back. It turned out that what we found was a statue of the Virgin Mary," he told the news portal Kupang.tribunnews.com.

He said the statue was intact, in an upward position and in her hand was a rosary.

It's interesting that although people already know where the statue came from, Catholics see it as an event of faith

After lifting the statue onto the boat, he and his companion embraced it and prayed. "I was very moved. I am a sinner but I managed to find a sacred object," he said.

Handrianus Atagoran, a Catholic in Lembata, said it was discovered that the statue had come from the grave of a priest in a coastal village which was taken by a mentally ill man and thrown into the sea.

"It's interesting that although people already know where the statue came from, Catholics see it as an event of faith," he told UCA News.

"People are queuing to come and pray at the statue, which is currently in the house of the fisherman who found it."

Some consider this as a warning that the region will be hit by a natural disaster, he said, adding that most see it in a more positive light as a sign of providence.

Also Read

How did Muslims and Orthodox Christians react to the reconversion?

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

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

The decision aimed to rally anti-Kemalist voters.

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

How did Muslims and Orthodox Christians react to the reconversion?

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

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

The decision aimed to rally anti-Kemalist voters.

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

How did Muslims and Orthodox Christians react to the reconversion?

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

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

The decision aimed to rally anti-Kemalist voters.

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

The timing of the reconversion, shortly after significant electoral defeats for Erdoğan’s party, suggests a strategy to rally nationalist and religious sentiments and divert attention from pressing domestic issues .

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

The decision aimed to rally anti-Kemalist voters.

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

The decision aimed to rally anti-Kemalist voters.

Erdoğan himself framed the conversion as a historic triumph, linking it to broader Islamic aspirations and national pride, and portraying it as a glorious chapter in Turkish history .

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.

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.

Critics argue that the act is less about religious devotion and more about political strategy, using the Hagia Sophia as a tool to strengthen Erdoğan’s political position and assert a more prominent Islamic identity for Turkey, which some see as coming at the expense of the country’s secular and multicultural traditions .

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

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

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

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

Internationally, the reconversion has drawn widespread criticism and diplomatic tensions.

Internationally, the reconversion has drawn widespread criticism and diplomatic tensions.

Internationally, the reconversion has drawn widespread criticism and diplomatic tensions.

Greece, the United States, UNESCO, and various Orthodox Christian institutions have expressed concern, emphasizing the importance of maintaining the Hagia Sophia’s status as a monument of shared human heritage rather than a site of religious exclusivity .

Title:

Content: More than two thousand Christian churches in Greece were desecrated in five years, coincidentally at a time 'migrants from the Islamic world' flooded the country.

WND highlighted a report from Gatestone Institute written by its distinguished senior fellow Raymond Ibrahim that decries the data released by Greece's Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs. The data showed a total of 2,339 incidents of vandalism occurred from 2015 to 2020. The data also revealed that, in 2020 alone, a total of 385 incidents were recorded on burglary, necromancy, placement of explosive devices, sacrilege, theft, and vandalism on Christian churches and buildings.

In the Gatestone Institute Report dated February 27, Ibrahim highlighted that a particular region in Greece--the North Rine-Westphalia--recorded 50 public statues of Jesus Christ and other Christian figures that were beheaded along with crucifixes that were broken. The said region also happened to be a residence to more than a million Muslim migrants.

Ibrahim pointed out that the ministry's report had the 1,453 sack of Constantinople (the Istanbul of today) in mind since at that time countless Greek churches were desecrated, destroyed, or converted into mosques. This, he said, showed a particular pattern that is a century older.

Similarly, Ibrahim underscored two quotations from the Greek City Times on the matter, which included how the vandalisms affected Greeks in a negative way toward the Muslim migrants.

"There appears to be a correlation between the increase in illegal migration and the incidents of attacks on Greek Orthodox religious churches and religious spaces during the five year period which occurred during the peak of the migration crisis," Ibrahim quoted the Greek Times.

"As a deeply religious society, these attacks on churches are shocking to the Greek people and calls to question whether these illegal immigrants seeking a new life in Europe are willing to integrate and conform to the norms and values of their new countries," he continued.

One of the 385 cases recorded in 2020 involved an incident where Muslim migrants ransacked and transformed the public restroom of the St. Catherine Church in Moria into their personal restroom. Moria is a small town in Lesvos, which is overpopulated by Muslim migrants that came from Turkey. A local described the restroom as "unbearable."

"The smell inside is unbearable. (The) metropolitan of Mytilene is aware of the situation in the area, nevertheless, he does not wish to deal with it for his own reasons," the local told the Greek Times.

Another incident involved last April 2021 wherein the Muslim migrants entered a small church with the intention to desecrate it for social media consumption. The migrants recorded portions of the incident that showed one of them dancing to rap music while being topless. The migrant is shown walking towards the church before it transitions to the next scene, which shows the aftermath of the church's desecration. The video was uploaded into Tiktok and showed the church altar overthrown and statues smashed by the migrants.

Ibrahim concluded the sad reality that Greece has become a part of the statistics where Muslim persecution has grown.

"Greece has become the latest exemplar of 'Islam's Rule of Numbers'--a rule which posits that the more Muslims grow in numbers, the more practices intrinsic to Islam grow with them, in this instance, the desecration of Christian churches," Ibrahim said.

Ibrahim's statements echo a report released here in Christianity Daily last December that showed a 70% increase in hate crimes against Christians in European countries, which took place between 2019 and 2020. These were said to be more prevalent in France and Germany. But a majority of the crimes were caused by secular intolerance and Islamic oppression.

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis described the decision as an affront to Istanbul’s rich history as a cultural crossroads, while the U.S.

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis described the decision as an affront to Istanbul’s rich history as a cultural crossroads, while the U.S.

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis described the decision as an affront to Istanbul’s rich history as a cultural crossroads, while the U.S.

State Department urged Turkey to preserve access to sites reflecting its diverse religious heritage .

UNESCO and global leaders have highlighted the need to preserve the monument’s universal significance, warning that the reconversion could violate international agreements on the preservation of cultural heritage sites and potentially diminish its value as a symbol of coexistence .

The reconversion has also had practical implications for tourism and the preservation of the site.

The reconversion has also had practical implications for tourism and the preservation of the site.

The reconversion has also had practical implications for tourism and the preservation of the site.

Since 2020, Hagia Sophia has seen a dramatic increase in visitors, reportedly receiving 21 million visitors, which has exacerbated existing structural issues and raised concerns about the building’s safety and the adequacy of its maintenance under its new status as a mosque .

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

Reports of fragments falling from the dome and warnings from experts about the risk of catastrophic structural failure have prompted calls for urgent restoration efforts .

Turkish authorities have announced plans for long-term maintenance and a visitor management policy, including charging foreign tourists an entrance fee starting in January 2024, aiming to enhance the quality and safety of visits while preserving the site’s historical significance .

The controversy surrounding the Hagia Sophia’s reconversion is part of a broader trend in Turkey, where other historical sites, such as the Chora Church, have also been converted back into mosques, signaling a shift in Turkey’s cultural and political identity under Erdoğan’s leadership .

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

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

This trend has reignited debates about Turkish identity, nationalism, and the role of Islam in public life, with supporters viewing the reconversion as restoring the Hagia Sophia’s rightful place as a mosque, while opponents see it as politicizing a cultural monument that belongs to all humanity .

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Public opinion within Turkey is divided.

Public opinion within Turkey is divided.

Many conservative Muslims celebrate the reconversion as a restoration of Islamic heritage and a national victory, while secularists and liberal groups worry about the implications for Turkey’s secular framework and the potential for increased religious polarization .

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

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

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

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

Among Turkish Muslims, the reconversion has been celebrated as a symbol of the Conquest and a restoration of Islamic heritage, but this positive sentiment is not universal, with significant opposition from secularists, minority religious groups, and international observers .

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.

In summary, the 2020 reconversion of the Hagia Sophia into a mosque by President Erdoğan has ignited a multifaceted controversy involving its historical and religious significance, UNESCO World Heritage concerns, political strategy, and international diplomatic tensions.

The decision is widely criticized for prioritizing Islamic heritage over the site’s Christian past, undermining its role as a symbol of coexistence and shared cultural heritage, and being perceived as a politically motivated act to consolidate Erdoğan’s support base.

The decision is widely criticized for prioritizing Islamic heritage over the site’s Christian past, undermining its role as a symbol of coexistence and shared cultural heritage, and being perceived as a politically motivated act to consolidate Erdoğan’s support base.

The decision is widely criticized for prioritizing Islamic heritage over the site’s Christian past, undermining its role as a symbol of coexistence and shared cultural heritage, and being perceived as a politically motivated act to consolidate Erdoğan’s support base.

The move challenges Turkey’s secular traditions, provokes international criticism, and raises concerns about cultural heritage preservation and religious tolerance, reflecting broader tensions in Turkey’s evolving political and social landscape .

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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