Friday, July 10, 2020

For the record

It's been widely reported, but in case you missed it...
ISTANBUL — President Recep Tayyip Erdogan issued a decree Friday ordering Hagia Sophia to be opened for Muslim prayers, an action likely to provoke international furor around a World Heritage Site cherished by Christians and Muslims alike for its religious significance, stunning structure and as a symbol of conquest.
 
The presidential decree came minutes after a Turkish court announced that it had revoked Hagia Sophia’s status as a museum, which for the last 80 years had made it a monument of relative harmony and a symbol of the secularism that was part of the foundation of the modern Turkish state.

Read the rest here.

2 comments:

unreconstructed rebel said...

I do not think that anybody in the West has the stones to do anything about it.

The presidential decree came minutes after a Turkish court announced that it had revoked Hagia Sophia’s status as a museum, which for the last 80 years had made it a monument of relative harmony and a symbol of the secularism that was part of the foundation of the modern Turkish state.

If Hagia Sophia's status were important to the Turks, Erdogan would be run out of office. Nope, I am afraid that about all we can do is mourn.

William Tighe said...

Following on this:

https://eu.greekreporter.com/2019/11/21/turkey-to-turn-historic-orthodox-church-into-a-mosque-is-hagia-sophia-next/