Nowadays Erdogan frequently invokes and glorifies Turkey’s Ottoman past, reinforcing the impression that many hold, that he is intent on restoring the caliphate in Istanbul and maybe even declare himself caliph.
In any case, when he enters the Hagia Sophia and dedicates his Islamic prayer to “Istanbul’s conqueror,” he is inviting people to remember the Ottoman Sultan Mehmet II, the conqueror of Constantinople. In my forthcoming book The History of Jihad From Muhammad to ISIS (which you can preorder here), I recount how, after over seven hundred years of trying, the warriors of jihad finally entered the great city on May 29, 1453. When they did, they made the streets run with rivers of blood. Muslims raided monasteries and convents, emptying them of their inhabitants, and plundered private houses. They entered the Hagia Sophia, which for nearly a thousand years had been the grandest church in Christendom. The Muslims then killed the elderly and weak and led the rest off into slavery.
The Byzantine scholar Bessarion wrote to the Doge of Venice in July 1453, saying that Constantinople had been
…sacked by the most inhuman barbarians and the most savage enemies of the Christian faith, by the fiercest of wild beasts. The public treasure has been consumed, private wealth has been destroyed, the temples have been stripped of gold, silver, jewels, the relics of the saints, and other most precious ornaments. Men have been butchered like cattle, women abducted, virgins ravished, and children snatched from the arms of their parents.
When the slaughter and pillage was finished, Mehmet II ordered an Islamic scholar to mount the high pulpit of the Hagia Sophia and declare that there was no God but Allah, and Muhammad was his prophet. The magnificent old church was turned into a mosque; hundreds of other churches in Constantinople and elsewhere suffered the same fate. Millions of Christians joined the ranks of the dhimmis; others were enslaved, and many were killed.
These are the glories Erdogan was invoking.
“Turkish president recites Muslim prayer at the Hagia Sophia,” Associated Press, March 31, 2018 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):
ISTANBUL – Turkey’s president has recited an Islamic prayer in the Hagia Sophia, a historic Istanbul landmark that has become a symbol of interfaith and diplomatic tensions.
Speaking for an art festival opening Saturday, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan recited the Quran’s first verse, dedicating the prayer to the “souls of all who left us this work as inheritance, especially Istanbul’s conqueror.”
The Hagia Sophia was built during the 6th century Christian Byzantine Empire and served as the seat of the Greek Orthodox Church. It was converted into an imperial mosque with the Ottoman conquest of Istanbul in 1453.
Turkey’s secular founder made the structure a museum in 1935, but there have been discussions by Erdogan’s Islamic-leaning government about converting it back into a mosque….
Indiana Tom says
Mehmet II ordered an Islamic scholar to mount the high pulpit of the Hagia Sophia and declare that there was no God but Allah, and Muhammad was his prophet. The magnificent old church was turned into a mosque; hundreds of other churches in Constantinople and elsewhere suffered the same fate. Millions of Christians joined the ranks of the dhimmis; others were enslaved, and many were killed.
These are the glories Erdogan was re-living. SSDD.
Erdogan is destroying all that AtaTurk built.
Turkey is now our enemy and should be treated as such.
.
Sam says
So you don’t want to give hugs to Erdogan as Obama used to, right?
Indiana Tom says
Obama and Erdogan are both on the same side, both are Muslims.
Lydia Church says
I propose the following:
1. A cross on top of every mosque that is then converted into a church
2. A bible in every house and building
3. The sound of church bells to the tune of hymns in every land
4. Biblical Christian law being the law of every land
5. Every other triumph over islam
Like Heidi Mund, I declare the whole world under Jesus and the Bible, which is His Holy Word!
I know the end times are upon us. But after the end Jesus returns and the triumph is all His, which He bought and paid for in victory. Christ is the victor, and the triumph is Christian, because His return includes all the Christian saints. He will crush all demonic religions like islam. It is already written. It is not something humanity can even do, but God will do it. So the victory has already been secured by Jesus Christ, who triumphs over all of his enemies and all the false prophets and their false religions, like islam. I know how the book ends so I am at peace.
And to impose a little bit more ‘Westernization’ and Christianity upon the whole world, here is the following:
HAPPY RESURRECTION SUNDAY!!!
Jesus is the victor, He triumphed over sin, death, the curse, the devil, and all the devil’s servants and false belief systems (like islam)! (But hell is eternal with those in it.)
Hallelujah!
Turn to Jesus to be saved today!
Carolyne says
So in your opinion, Lydia Church, all places of worship should be forcibly turned into Christian churches, all private home shall be required to own a particular book, the Christian bible, the only sound to be heard shall be Christian church bells, and all shall be forced to be Christian? How very Islamic.
No, thanks. I have no wish to become what you desire and will not do so. Its demands are as odious as Islam. You follow whatever religion you wish, or none at all, and I will do the same, and keep your hands out of my library.
FYI says
Yes,yes Carolyne…Remember all that when you take the mark..as you most certainly will…for you will not be able to resist:You are not even intelligent enough to even see that coming for you!
You may imagine you have the luxury to ignore the reality of what is happening but the day is coming when you and your kind will have absolutely NO CHOICE.You have demonstrated in many of your comments an appaling ,brutish,ignorance of so many things.Clearly,your library or education has not served you well.
You know absolutely nothing of theology or the study of comparative religions.
Even if you dislike religion(fair enough..),or if you are an atheist(good for you..) you cannot and will not escape what is coming whether you like it or not:it is currently completely beyond your capacity to understand that.Perhaps if you knew the difference between perishable knowledge and wisdom(you certainly don’t),but alas!
{It is doubtful your library would be of interest:mine is a polymathic,polyglottic one..everything from Astrophysics. to Zen philosophy…and in several different languages..including Arabic,Hebrew,Greek………..}
You will have no choice:remember you were told that…remember you had the choice..
You will see the folly of your limited understanding.
Consider this an act of mercy to educate your brutish ignorance:I would not normally respond to such a silly ill-educated fool as you any more than I will waste time with a psychopathically deranged muslim troll babbling on about nonsensical “mithraists”.
I’m pretty sure you’ll be taking the mark when the time comes(the technology is already operational)
Enjoy the consequences of that(remember..you will have no choice…)
Carol (the 1st) says
Looks like Carolyne stepped on a few toes. I enjoy both her posts and Lydia’s. Christians who carry a pulpit around are well-meaning but they can show shades of Islam at times.
Avenger says
Indiana Tom, do you really think that Ataturk was a good guy who instituted wonderful secularism into Turkey? You worry that Erdogan is undoing all his fine work?
Under Ataturk, 2,500,000 Armenians, 950,000 Greeks and 750,000 Christian Assyrians were murdered. This finally completed the genocide of Christians that Turks for centuries yearned for.
Anyone who reveres Atatürk and is not Muslim, is a total fool.
Ezra says
Yes, and Turkey will be the seat of the reborn caliphate in the end times according to the Hebrew prophets. (Dan chapter 7 might be the place to start)
Alarmed Pig Farmer says
Honor the conqueror, honor the hairy angry Moslem. Defile the greatest cathedral, defile the Passover non-Moslem religious holiday, threaten the continued existence of freedom. Always migrate in Hijrah across the world, but also go to holy spots in Mecca, Qom, Jerusalem and Istanbul. It’s a cycle, a very bad one.
Karen says
Good point. During Passover, during Easter Holy Week. Anyone with the least bit of sensitivity for ‘the other’ would have thought twice about that statement. But Erdogan is a religious supremacist, as he proves over and over again.
Carol (the 1st) says
Robert Spencer described the 1453 sack of Constantinople thusly: “after over seven hundred years of trying, the warriors of jihad finally entered the great city on May 29, 1453. When they did, they made the streets run with rivers of blood.”
On Easter weekend 2018 Erdogan dedicates this prayer to the Hagia Sophia and “to the souls of all who left us this work as inheritance”
This sounds suspiciously close to wishing us another bloodbath. He’s about as sensitive as Ibrahim Itace M.
Carol (the 1st) says
…”to the souls of all who left us this work as inheritance, ESPECIALLY ISTANBUL’S CONQUEROR.” (Mehmet II)
Indiana Tom says
I am still trying to figure out how Jerusalem is a Muslim Holy Site.
The far away Mosque did not exist at the time of Muhammad’s LSD trip.
Must have been another Mosque.
Alarmed Pig Farmer says
You talking about the one where he rode a white horse through the sky? That was the best, haa.
– fellow Hoosier named Tom
Indiana Tom says
Tripping the Light Fantastic!
utis says
While waiting for Robert’s book to arrive, read “Lords of the Golden Horn” by Noel Barber. Amazon has fresh copies for exorbitant prices, but there are second hand copies if you can’t find one at the library (I read decades ago in my university library — it may have “disappeared” by now).
It gives a wonderful rundown on life as and with the great sultans. I am sure Erdogan is foaming at the mouth to get his harem cattle and the power to kill whoever he wants in as disgusting a way as possible. Those who hate Ataturk will see what he was trying to replace. Whatever his failures, he had an awful task.
Billy Chickens says
Erdogan is getting older but wants to be grand caliph before he dies. Lately he’s been accelerating his venom to make things roll faster.
Muhammad is Lucifer’s prophet since “Gabriel” was Lucifer appearing as St Gabriel the Archangel. God would never have resent St Gabriel back to earth 630 years after the death of Christ to have Muhammad found a new religion.
St Gabriel was sent to the Blessed Mother to announce that she would be the Mother of God. Therefore God would never resend St Gabriel to Muhammad …as if Christianity wasn’t working out so God had to rethink his salvific plan. No.
In the year 630 all of the Middle East was Christian except Persia which was Zoroastrian (?). Christianity was fast conquering the minds and hearts of mankind so Satan had to do something. Hence his plan of Islam.
Islam is the religion of the devil and Muhammad is Lucifer’s prophet.
Ibrahim itace muhammed says
Billy chickens, holy spirit is exactly the Satan Who inspired mithraist christianity to worship him and this is what you have been doing . Drop it before you die and casted into hottest lake of hellfire burning together with holy spirit.
Billy Chickens says
ITM – Mithraist islamists, that is, rock worshipers, worship…well…a black rock in mecca.
Christians do not worship a rock. We worship God. You have no clue what you’re talking about. Leave islam – drop it before you die and are cast into the hottest lake of hellfire burning together with satan and his prophet muhammad.
Billy Chickens says
I meant IIM not ITM.
Indiana Tom says
Allah, the Moon God is Satan and Muhammad is the false prophet. Erdogan is the Anti-Christ. The unholy trinity rides again.
And I saw coming out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits, as it were frogs:
gravenimage says
I see that Ibrahim itace muhammed is doubling down on what Caliph Erdogan had to say–taunting us with the Islamic slaughter of Christians. *Ugh*.
Sepp says
The Orthodox Christian Churches that continue to use the original, Patristic Calendar, observe Palm Sunday tomorrow and Great Week next week. The Lord’s Pascha, the Resurrection, is next Sunday.
Until just a few hundred years ago, almost all of Christendom was united on the original Patristic Church Calendar.
CogitoErgoSum says
Pope Francis makes me think about lost sheep, lost coins and a lost son and then I think about a new title for the head of the Church in the West ……. the Patriarch of Rome.
Indiana Tom says
Pope Francis makes me think about Benedict Arnold.
CogitoErgoSum says
Arnold was born a British subject and then joined the rebellion against the British and then betrayed the Americans and went back to being a British citizen. Did that make him a triple crosser? The number of crosses involved when the Pope turns traitor boggles my tiny brain.
762x51FMJ says
By using religion as a tool to control people Erdogan shows weakness. Instead of unifying Turkey as a secular state he divides his people, this creates enemies and terror. And will tear Turkey to pieces again from within.
” Islam – this theology of an immoral Arab – is a dead thing. Possibly it might have suited tribes in the desert. It is no good for a modern, progressive state. God’s revelation! There is no God! These are only the chains by which the priests and bad rulers bound the people down. A ruler who needs religion is a weakling. No weaklings should rule.”
Notice that Attaturk knew his history, referring to both Byzantine Christian and Islamic rulers that harmed Turkey over a long history..by either using religion as an excuse to war or as a defining power over the mind and lifestyle of Turks.
Attaturk knew the way to be the strongest leader
Was to keep government as neutral as possible in religious matters and promote secularism and peace among all turks. Turkey was lucky because of the timing. At the end of WW1 was the beginning of the industrial revolution. Turkey became westoxicated by western and cannot be easily reversed to adhere to the 6th century demands against the rights of a 21st century human existence.
Carolyne says
All religions have been and are used as a tool to control people, Islam being no different but likely worse than the others. But since the Pope now says that hell does not exist, the leverage to follow religious dictates has somewhat diminished for that portion of Christendom.
Carol (the 1st) says
Ataturk did wonders for Turkey and I think the average Turk was very proud of him. Then along comes the usual hand from the grave (Moe’s).
Carol (the 1st) says
Ataturk, (putting aside any possible culpability regarding the Armenian genocide), sounds like a great man who did groundbreaking wonders for Turkey. Any Turk I’ve ever met seemed very proud of him and their modernized country…then along comes the persistent creepy crawly hand from the grave (Moe’s) and they’re off to ensure once again that Allah gets the best seat at the killing fields. Ain’t death grand?
Notmoron says
Europe and Pope are in the same side with Erdman
Notmoron says
I meant Erdogan
mortimer says
To do so on Good Friday is a MESSAGE TO THE POPE and TO ALL CHRISTIANS that a new genocidal persecution directed by the Turkish government will soon begin.
The West should take this message very seriously.
ERDOGAN HAS JUST DECLARED A JIHAD AGAINST THE CHURCH and against the WEST as well.
CogitoErgoSum says
I see crosses atop the minarets at Hagia Sophia. Erdogan dreams of minarets around St. Peter’s. My vision is his nightmare; his nightmare is my dream. Have hope that He who keeps us will not slumber.
gravenimage says
Yes–thanks for noting that Erdogan did this *on Good Friday*. This was another stab at Christians, who are so threatened in Turkey.
Eric jones says
You are right Mortimer. We should take heed. Is Trump or John Bolton waking up to this or are they in search of other enemies?
Eric
Notmoron says
There are no Christians in EUROPE. And if there are few, they are powerless or clueless
gravenimage says
Yes, there are Christians in Europe. There are few surviving in Turkey, though.
Sam says
The western Europe should patch up with Russia and slavic countries and then take back Constantinople and Levant for Christendom. Oh wait.. that’s not gonna happen. I’d settle for just stopping any more violent jiahdis from coming over into Europe.
gravenimage says
There are almost no Christians left in Turkey. Most of them were slaughtered a hundred years ago in the Armenian Genocide.
Manny says
Tragic loss of a great church into satanic hands. Throw Turkey out of EU. They don’t belong there.
gravenimage says
Thank God, Turkey was never accepted into the EU–one of the very few smart things they have done. Turkey is part of NATO, though–and should be kicked out.
Gjallarhornet says
Of, Wonder when NATO finally calls it quit on Ernie and his shenanigans down there in Turkey.
Jake says
Soon the Muslims will say that Mohammed built the building as a mosque and the Christians converted it into a Church. Then a short while later the Western press will say the origins of the Church are disputed. Then within a few years the press will say the building was built by Muhammad and used as a Church for a short time by Islam haters.
gravenimage says
When I was a child, there was a book on Islamic architecture at my public library. Insanely, it had a picture of Hagia Sophia on the cover. So this sickening cluelessness is not a new thing.
Here’s a site that lists Hagia Sophia among the “The Five Marvels Of Islamic Architecture”:
http://allthatsinteresting.com/marvels-of-islamic-architecture/2
Of course, the author here is Muslim–so this may be more Taqiyya than ignorance.
Notice in the text it doesn’t even mention the violent conquest of Constantinople by Muslims at all.
gravenimage says
Turkey: Erdogan recites Qur’an inside Hagia Sophia in honor of “Istanbul’s conqueror”
………………………
I believe that this is technically illegal in Turkey–certainly, it has been. But there have been increasing calls by supremacist Muslims to turn Hagia Sophia–now a museum–back into a Mosque.
And now Erdogan–who has been fast re-Islamizing Turkey for years now–seems to have done it.
And praising the Muslim conqueror of Constantinople in Hagia Sophia is particularly hideous, since this was the site of the greatest atrocities of that conquest, where women, children, the elderly and crippled, and priests and nuns had taken sanctuary.
The Muslim conquerers raped women–including nuns–and children; mass slaughtered priests, nuns, and the vulnerable; and enslaved the survivors.
*This* is what the foul Erdogan is celebrating here.
Jenny H says
Ithink I can recall seeing an episode of the the Dateline TV program on the SBS network here in Australia of a few years back, where a couple of the audience members claimed that 2 teenage boys were raped on the altar of the Hagia Sophia during the muslim invasion. They were great, great, great etc, uncles of the audience members.
Is this mentioned in history? Does anyone know about this?.
gravenimage says
+1
Jay says
Nice guy that petty little tyrant is. Love the way he lies and doesn’t tell the truth about how that Church became a mosque nor does he mention the wanton slaughter and widespread theft. Someone remind me again why we are allied with turkey?
gravenimage says
Yes–Turkey is no ally of ours.
CogitoErgoSum says
The Cold War with the Soviet Union had much to do with it. The Cold War has ended and the Soviet Union is no more. Time to reconsider our alliances.
Matina says
No it not going to happen. Although Turkey is not part of EU, Turkey has more privileges and lion’s shares of EU jizya than any other member and certainly more that Greek (member). At the Crimean war, there was no EU but Britain turned itself into an obedient donkey to Turkey.
Turkey will enslave the west until the innate servility is removed from infidels’ heart.
RCCA says
Erdogan said these supremacist remarks at the opening of an art exhibit. It’s disgusting how the innocent and creative types and “art” still get exploited by tyrants for political purposes. The ultimate evil.
Baucent says
Erdogan’s meglomania grows daily and it’s only a matter of time before he declares the Hagia Sophia a functioning temple to the Moon god. Right now he is a little worried about the reaction of the Greeks, and others, if he takes that step, but soon the fever of the mind will overcome his restraint.
Mike says
Not even able to build themselves their own mosques, they have to steal others churches .
Ibrahim itace muhammed says
Cogitoergosum, that ancient arab history before Islam is called jahiliyya (darkness) where they worshiped idols líke Hubal Who resembled Baal worshiped by Israelites and other 360 idols líke lat, uzza and manat placed at the kaaba assuming the worships brought them closer to Allah, which Allah dismissed as nonsense. Allah also explicitly told us not worship Sun and moon, but worship Him alone Who created them. But christians retained Roman paganism of mithraism inspired by the Satan christians Call holy spirit.
CogitoErgoSum says
Well, putting a crescent moon on top of your mosques really supports that contention.
Ibrahim itace muhammed says
Cogitoergosum, thé Quran never stated that crescent symbol be used and prophet muhammad never used it or any of his companions used it. It was invented by Later generations to signify new month of fasting ,not to glorify the moon itself.
Carolyne says
Actually, I have been in Hagia Sofia in Istanbul. It is a magnificent building which could not have been built by stupid Muslims, it is a shame that Muslims now own it and can and will convert it into some grotesque pseudo mosque in their ignorance.
Ibrahim itace muhammed says
Carolyne, you must be a fool. Do you mean Hagia sophia was built by Satan god as the best designer ? you and your Satan god christians Call holy spirit Will be casted into hottest lake of hellfire burning in the hereafter.
Avenger says
I.I. mudhammed, if you actually followed this thread you’d realize that Carolyne is an atheist not Christian.
The Hagia Sophia was built 50 years before your prophet of death was crapped out of a camels ass. Your very low IQ muslim ancestors used captive Christian architects and artisans to design and build your grandiose mosques centuries later, all copies of previous Christian cathedrals.
Face the facts, oh peace loving Ibrahim.
UNCLE VLADDI says
ROMANIA TO GREECE:
I’m still a tad sorry I only kicked Mehmet’s butt and drove him out of the Balkans to spread more mischief elsewhere. I shoulda finished him off when I had the chance.