Posted on 05/10/2017 7:12:44 PM PDT by Texas Fossil
Christians in Turkey have – throughout the centuries — been turned into a tiny, dwindling minority. The remaining few Christian churches in Anatolia are also on the path to total annihilation.
Hagia Sophia in Trabzon: Church-mosque-museum and now mosque again
The Hagia Sophia, Greek for “Holy Wisdom,” was one of the many historic Orthodox churches located in the city of Trabzon. Watch this short video by the marine archaeologist Susan Langley to see the unique etchings on the walls of the former church:
The third and youngest of the Hagia Sophia’s in Turkey, the church was first converted to a mosque during the Ottoman rule. In 1964, it was turned into a museum. Since 2013, however, it was converted into a mosque.
Christian symbols in the church have been damaged or destroyed. Nails have been pounded into the walls in order to hang curtains inside the new “mosque” to create a separate section for women. The frescos on the ceiling have been veiled with wooden curtains and the mosaics on the floors have been covered with a carpet.
Some walls have been painted green. A toilet and ferroconcrete structures have been built around the former church.
You can see photos of the new Haghia Sophia “mosque” by clicking here.
Watch this video to see the transformation of the church-museum into a mosque:
The city of Trabzon (or “Trapezus” in Greek), is located in the ancient land of Pontos, in the north-eastern Black Sea region of Turkey. The first Greek settlements appeared in the region as early as 800 BC. Many renowned Greek philosophers, such as Diogenes and Strabo, were born and raised in Pontos, which means “sea” in Greek.
The region is also central to the Christian faith. Pontos and its inhabitants are mentioned thrice in the New Testament. The Pontic (Pontian) people were some of the very first converts to Christianity. Trabzon had its own bishop as early as the First Council of Nicaea in AD 325.
“Trabzon,” wrote the historian Sam Topalidis, “was the ancient capital of the Greek-speaking Komnenos Byzantine Kingdom (1204–1461) within the Pontos—the northeast portion of Anatolia adjacent the Black Sea. It survived until 1461, eight years after the fall of Byzantine Constantinople when both localities fell to the Ottoman Turks.”
The Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II invaded and captured the city after a month-long siege and took its ruler and his family into captivity.
A forgotten genocide: Pontic Greek genocide
Pontos was first invaded by Seljuk Turks in the 1070s and 1080s, and then by the Ottoman imperial army. The demographics as well as the culture of the region have ever since been totally changed.
“During the following two centuries of Ottoman rule, the 16th and 17th centuries, Greek communities in Asia Minor resisted constant pressures to convert to Islam,” reported the Pontian Greek Society of Chicago.
“Most managed to preserve their religion, ethnic traditions, and culture. During the 17th and 18th centuries, however, thousands of Greeks were forced to convert to Islam, among them 250,000 Pontian Greeks. Thousands of Greeks fled to Christian Russia to escape Turkish persecution, particularly following the numerous Russian-Turkish wars in the 19th century.”
The gravest mass murders of Christians took place during the latest stage of the Ottoman Empire as well as the founding phase of the Republic of Turkey.
The main organizer of the Christian genocide was the Ottoman Committee of Union and Progress (CUP) whose aim was to achieve the “Turkification” of Anatolia by eliminating Christian communities.
In 2007, the International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS) declared:
“Be it resolved that it is the conviction of the International Association of Genocide Scholars that the Ottoman campaign against Christian minorities of the Empire between 1914 and 1923 constituted a genocide against Armenians, Assyrians, and Pontian and Anatolian Greeks.”
“These atrocities,” according to the Pontian Greek Society of Chicago, “include the burning of hundreds of villages and the murder of their inhabitants, particularly in the Pontus region. In September of 1921, this campaign of terror and extermination resulted in the arrest and execution of hundreds of prominent Pontian Greeks on trumped-up charges of treason.
“As a consequence of the deliberate and systematic policy of ‘Turkey for the Turks,’ approximately 2.5 million Armenians, Assyrians, and Greeks were murdered or were victims of the ‘white death.’ This term was used to describe all deaths that resulted from lack of food, disease, and exposure to the elements during the deportations and death marches.”
“The Pontians had suffered a lot throughout their history of nearly 3,000 years,” wrote the author Olga Balytnikova-Rakitianskaia. “But the genocide was the most terrible of their misfortunes, for it deprived the Greeks of the Black Sea not only of their friends and relatives, but also of their native land.”
The final stage of the end of the Greek Orthodox civilization of Pontos was during the 1923 compulsory exchange of populations between the states of Greece and Turkey. As a result of this forced population exchange conducted in the aftermath of the genocide, Anatolian and Pontic Greeks were forcibly removed from their homeland.
In extreme panic and fear of their lives, the majority of Greeks had already fled before the signing of the convention, according to the researcher Aris Tsilfidis.
“The Convention concerning the Exchange of Populations between Greece and Turkey which was signed on the 1st of May 1923 was conducted in order to save the remaining 189,916 Greeks from further persecution and death at the hand of the Turks.”
Even 93 years later, the very few remaining traces of Christianity in Turkey are still being systematically eradicated by state authorities. Apparently, even the supposed “secular” constitution of the country has not enabled many historic churches in the country to remain churches.
Today, Trabzon is one of the cities with the highest number of mosques in Turkey. According to the statistics of Turkey’s Presidency of Religious Affairs (Diyanet), the city had 1,952 mosques in the year 2014, which means there is no shortage of mosques in the city.
The systematic conversions of historic churches or church-museums into mosques, therefore, speak volumes about the level of tolerance, religious freedom and pluralism in Turkey.
Meanwhile, the Islamic State (ISIS) has also been busy converting historic churches into mosques in their self-declared Islamic caliphate.
In 2015, the Chaldean Churches of St. Joseph and of St. Ephrem in Mosul, for instance, were turned into mosques by ISIS terrorists.
Nuri Kino, president and founder of “A Demand For Action,” told Newsweek the church conversion is proof of the Islamic State’s intentions with Iraqi Christians.
“A year ago they said, ‘Convert, pay or die.’ Then it turned out to be a lie, that even if you pay, you will not be able to stay,” Kino said.
“If they changed a church to a mosque it is further proof of their cleansing, something that many call a genocide,” he added. “They destroy our artifacts, our churches, and try to erase us in any way they can.”
The intentions of Turkey and the Islamic State (ISIS) — in terms of their treatment of Christians and churches — appear to be quite similar, with one exception: The Islamic State is a rogue regime; Turkey is a NATO member and a candidate for EU membership.
But look at the effect of Turkey's long term cultural and other literal genocides.
And it will get much worse under Erdogan with his newly acquired super powers. Remember? Those he gained by a stolen Referendum?
God Help US all.
Note- there are embedded videos at the link that did not transfer on my post.
Because they can?
Because the devil knows that his time is short.
Islam is a cancer upon human history.
Erdogan is the ascending islamic Caliphate dictator that fits Revelations Anti-Christ character.
Think he’s got power now?
Just wait til he sets off the Caliphate’s devastating Zero Hour attack on the western targets.
Don’t count on western people uprising in retaliation.
That ship left a long time ago.
Cowering appeasement is a sure bet based on victim tribute candle vigils in EU & US over the past five year’s jihadist attacks.
Bet on our granddaughters wearing hijab at this rate...
Battle has always been:
Truth vs Lies
Light vs Darkness
Good vs Evil
Kindness vs Cruelty
Life vs Death
It is still so.
Yes. And they have for generation.
Yes, and her runs to and fro to gather all he can before his time is ended.
Save Thy people, O Lord,
and bless Thine inheritance.
Grant victory to Thy Church over her enemies,
and protect Thy people by Thy Holy Cross!
Not as long as I breath. I have one grandson, but won’t matter if it is my grand daughter or that of a friend. There will be a time to stand.
Because islam (or fislam, if you like).
Because they either killed or scared and drove underground any Christians who would wish to stop them?
If I were a Christian living in any majority Islamic country, I’d be looking for the closest exit. The governments of those places will not protect them.
But there’s damn few places left to escape to. That is all part of the war plan build-in to Islam. Middle East is no place for Christians any longer. They all needed to rent U-Hauls and move years ago. If Europe was smart they would invite all Christians and block most muzlamists, but they aren’t. Western Europe won’t survive the next 30 - 50 years. They won’t admit there is a problem until it is way too late. European Christians will suffer the same fate as those from Turkey and other hell holes. It’s a shame to be sure, but not my problem nor that of my kids, because Europe is blazing down this path with abandon. It’s likely already too late for them.
Russia and Poland aren’t putting up with this shit.
Israel, she’s in for a world of hurt. But she will fight.
USA should not spill one more drop of blood fighting the Islamic war plan unless and until we chose to fight to win in total and complete victory, which would mean using any available means to bring all Islamic states to a state of unconditional surrender, or die fighting. That also means WW3. I seriously doubt we’ll chose that option anytime soon. We’ll just wipe out one jihadi wing and another will pop right up. It will be increasing perpetual global unrest until we ultimately go for the big option.
Our shorter term priority problem is to continue to defeat the globalists from using our equally flawed immigration system as a weapon against the USA. That’s what is happening everywhere around the globe and must be stopped here, ASAP. They are fighting tooth and nail to prevent Trump from that core objective. In the end Trump and We must win to survive this global menace.
I say shut all immigration routes completely down until the courts get out of the way and the southern wall is completely built. You can visit, if you can pass our deep sniff tests. But once your business is done, get the hell out. No, really, you must go back now. Trump could do that tomorrow. I hope he does it at least by Friday. Time is short.
That’s right Hillary, I am Deplorable. I want future generations to have this country safe and sound. I’ll fight, I’ll send kids to fight but only for the US of A. The rest in the world can help or go pound sand and have their heads handed to them. I doubt many will help. Funny that, Russia just might. Hillary would have insured they couldn’t.
We are in the right timeline, now. I pray America wakes and we use it wisely. Our grand kids need for US to acknowledge and fix this wicked world problem. Chances we fail them are pretty damn high. Too damn high. What a mess that has been allowed to fester. History did warn us. We just did not heed its call.
I can’t help but laugh at those who believe global climate change is our largest threat. Muzlemists laugh wildly at them too. Christians and other ‘non-believers’ hardest hit.
Obama and theDemocrats have sown the seeds of our own demise with the infulx of hundreds of thousands of muslims to America.
Their ungodly demands have already started.
It is the stupid ones who accommodate them.
Islam is known to build nothing. Most of the mosques are in fact former churches and synagogues they had to steal. This is a continuing MO since islam started.
“I have one grandson”
That is the problem!
We should all have 20 grandchildren...
My grandma had nine children but only 15 grandchildren.
Bkmrk with thanks and sadness and outrage
I have one grandson. There will probably never be another in my line.
Lost my son 2 years ago. Still have my daughter.
I understand and sympathize.
Agree. I’ve observed that. And they want to destroy all records of prior civilizations, because it exposes their lies about their own.
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