Turks push to turn iconic Hagia Sophia back into a mosque

The Greek Observer ^ | 4 Mar 2017

[cutty]

For eight decades, the iconic Hagia Sophia [Ἁγία Σοφία, “Holy Wisdom”] – museum in Istanbul [Constantinople] has stood as a symbol of Turkey’s commitment to a secular society.

Now that tradition is under siege by growing calls to convert the historic structure back into a practicing mosque.

The 1,500-year-old structure originally was built as an Orthodox Christian cathedral.

It was turned into a mosque in the 15th century after the Ottoman Turks defeated the Greek emperor in Constantinople and renamed the city Istanbul.

In the 1930s, the founder of modern Turkey, Kemal Ataturk, turned it into a museum in his drive to create a secular republic on the ruins of the Ottoman Empire.

Now that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is promoting a more prominent role for Islam in Turkey

...

Last year, the Turkish Ministry of Religious Affairs appointed an imam to the Hagia Sophia. That appointment came a few months after a muezzin, who calls the faithful to pray, chanted the Islamic morning prayer inside the Hagia Sophia for the first time since 1935.

...

Those moves are causing a backlash among Greeks

....

Some Turks also worry about the campaign to convert the museum. “Turning Hagia Sophia into a mosque has always been a cause for many conservative Islamists

[BenLurkin]

Much better that it be destroyed.

[VanDeKoik]

Easy now, Turks....

Save some of that money for when you will need to turn all of those old dusty cathedrals in Europe into them as well.

You realize how much it is going to cost to turn the Vatican into New Mecca? Paint ain’t cheap!

[PGR88]

And I promote the Russians or Greeks returning Constantinople to Christian rule.

[Dilbert San Diego]

Turkey is a country which troubles me. It doesn’t get a lot of attention, but, their moves towards being a more religious nation, rather than a secular Muslim country, could really cause more world trouble, more terrorism.

Just my opinion. Balances of power could really change, terrorists could have new allies,etc. if Turkey goes Muslim religious rather than secular.

[PGR88]

... said Yusuf Yalcin, 37, of Istanbul, an information technology manager who co-founded a group devoted to that cause. “Hagia Sophia is the relic of our ancestors and symbol of our freedom.”

No, its not a relic of your ancestors. its completely a relic of someone else's culture, religion and history. They built it, not Muslims.

Islam has the DNA of parasites. With Muslims, its never about building or creating for oneself. It is about theft, conquest, and domination - and this is clearest when they talk about the relics and churches of others.

[Psalm 144]

It’s all about Erdogan. He is a sincere Moslem, and acts accordingly.

[cutty]

Erdogan wants to be the next Islamic Caliph. He has been introducing Islam back into the schools to create a generation of future Jihadists.

[Psalm 144]

Agreed 100% on both your posts.

[babble-on]

Started being built in 532 AD by the Byzantine Christians. Has withstood 15 centuries of earthquakes and political upheaval, including 500 years as a mosque.

[Ciaphas Cain]

There is a legend that as the Ottomans were ramming at the doors of Haggia Sophia, at the last moment the priests picked up the sacred vessels from the altar and fled toward a wall of the church, which opened for them and closed behind them. And so it was that the most important items for worship, like the communion chalices, were spared from desecration by the filthy Muslims.

They will remain hidden in the church, until the day when Haggia Sophia is once again consecrated to God.

[Leaning Right]

> And I promote the Russians or Greeks returning Constantinople to Christian rule. <

It could have happened after WW I. Good article about that here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occupation_of_Constantinople

[Snickering Hound]

[Capt. Tom]

With today’s statistics showing Turkeys population to be around 98% Sunni Muslim , I would expect Ergodan could get his way and make it back into a Mosque. -Tom

[SharpRightTurn]

“President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is promoting a more prominent role for Islam in Turkey”

It would be a real shame if this mohammedan brotherhood hothead had an “accident.”

[cmj328]

How many of them actually want to be Muslim though?

My guess is, less than 30%.

[SunkenCiv]

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani, Russia's Vladimir Putin and Turkey's Tayyip Erdogan meet in Sochi, Russia November 22, 2017. (photo credit: SPUTNIK/MIKHAIL METZEL/KREMLIN VIA REUTERS)