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Don't Let Erdogan Erase Turkey's Christian Past
[Foreign Policy] The Turkish president wants to turn Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia back into a mosque. Destroying its dual Orthodox-Islamic heritage would be a blow to religious pluralism and tolerance.Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia was, for nearly 1,000 years, the largest and most important house of Christian worship in the world until it was converted into mosque in the 15th century. The building, now a museum, is still filled with priceless Christian mosaics and frescoes. It is also one of the most contested religious buildings in the world. On July 2, the Turkish high court will rule on President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s request to annul the 1934 decree that turned Hagia Sophia from a mosque into a museum. If the court says yes, the decision will reverberate across the world. Erdogan has consistently expressed his desire to return Hagia Sophia to its previous status as a mosque. This stance plays well with his pious political base. Turkish Pres Erdogan wants to turn the Hagia Sophia Cathedral back into a mosque from the museum which it had been turned into by Ataturk. That would result in the destruction of all the magnificent mosaics uncovered after they had been whitewashed when the cathedral had been converted into a mosque in 1453. Foking barbarians. Related: Hagia Sophia: 2019-03-29 Erdogan says time has come for Hagia Sophia to be a mosque Hagia Sophia: 2019-03-25 The re-Islamification of Turkey continues: Erdogan moots renaming Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia museum a mosque Hagia Sophia: 2019-02-17 Erdogan offers seminary exchange for Greek mosque minarets Posted by: Besoeker 2020-07-03 |
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