Submitted by Nadia Bazuk…
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on July 10, 2020, repealed a decree, signed by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. An Orthodox Christian cathedral built in 537 by the Byzantine Emperor Justinian I once again has turned into a mosque. This incident provoked favorable reaction comments among Turkish Muslims as well as massive disappointment in Christian countries.
The re-conversion of Hagia Sophia from a patriarchal cathedral built by Justinian I in 537 CE to Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque in 1453 after the conquest of Constantinople by Sultan Mehmet II and into a museum of the same name by Kemal Ataturk in 1934 and again into a mosque of the same name on 24th July 2020 has thrown[Read More...]
Last three decades have seen a drastic shift in the global political scenario. Earlier decades were marked by national liberation struggles; focus on the issues related to ‘this World’. Many a countries who came out from the grip of colonialism, under different banners gave primacy to industrialisation, education and agricultural growth. India, Vietnam, Cuba being some of those, which despite[Read More...]
This latest joint move by Damascus and Moscow is a public relations coup, but it is also sure to draw the ire of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
Middle East Monitor reports…
The following is a statement from the commander of the National Defence Forces in the Syrian Christian city of Al Sqeilbiyyeh, Nabel Alabdalla. Nabel is planning to build a symbolic version of Hagia Sophia in his city on the land that he and his soldiers have defended for 10 years against the terrorist gangs dominated by Al Qaeda and sponsored by the US Coalition, including Turkey (a NATO member state)
Steven Sahiounie, journalist and political commentator…
Europe is historically a group of Christian nations, now banded together as an economic unit known as the European Union (EU). Turkey is a Muslim nation, on the edge of Europe, with a long stated goal of entering the EU, but consistently denied on the basis of religion.
The museum of the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul will be turned into a functioning mosque. The initiative of the Turkish President Erdogan was supported by the Turkish State Council on July 9. This will be announced officially soon. This is largely done to raise the political rating of the Turkish president. Erdogan’s initiative aims to rally the Turkish electorate around its Justice Party. Her ratings have been steadily falling lately. Against this background, Erdogan is again trying to strengthen nationalist sentiment in Turkish society.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan declared Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia a mosque on Friday hours after a top court ruled the ancient building’s conversion to a museum by modern Turkey’s founding statesman was illegal. “With this court ruling, and with the measures we took in line with the decision, Hagia Sophia became a mosque again, after 86 years, in the way Fatih[Read More...]
The Duran’s Alex Christoforou and Editor-in-Chief Alexander Mercouris discuss the decision by Turkish leader Erdogan, and Turkish courts, to convert the Hagia Sophia, a global symbol of Christianity and Orthodox faith, into a mosque.
