Asia News reported this on November 6:
Istanbul (AsiaNews) – The State Council has decided that the ancient Church of Saint Savoir [sic] Chora, be returned “to its initial cult”, that is to be used as a mosque. The pro-government newspaper “Yeni Şafak” reported this yesterday.
Orthodox Christians and Catholics fear that this decision could set a precedent for the Hagia Sophia, also under the threat of being transformed from a museum into a mosque.
The Church of St. Savior of Chora was built in the fifth century, and is located in the western district of Istanbul of Edirnekapı. It is one of the most splendid examples of Byzantine art, and still preserves mosaics and frescoes. Only since 1511 was it used as a mosque by the Ottoman Turks. In 1945 it was transformed into a museum until today….
The decision of the State Council for the church of Chora could open the way for a “Mosque of St. Sophia”.
Hagia Sophia was a church for nearly a thousand years, from the early sixth century to May 29, 1453, when the Muslim Turks conquered Constantinople, the largest and richest city in Christendom for half a millennium. Mehmet II, the conqueror of the city, promptly turned this largest and greatest of all Orthodox churches into a mosque. Islamic minarets were built around its Byzantine dome, proclaiming its new function to Believers and Unbelievers alike. It remained a mosque for nearly 500 years, until the 1930s when, under the secularizing rule of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, and with the approval of his followers, the mosque was transformed into a museum, open to all.
It is in the news again, as some Muslims, encouraged by the relentless re-islamizing of Turkey by Recep Tayyip Erdogan, sued to have the Hagia Sophia opened as a Muslim prayer house, and the State Council’s ruling regarding the Church of St. Savior of Chora could pave the way for that to happen.
In its plea, the association, a non-governmental Turkish heritage group, had claimed that barring prayers at Hagia Sophia was breaching the right to freedom of expression and conscience.
Apparently when Christian prayer was forbidden, from May 29, 1453 right up until today, in what was once the greatest church in Christendom, this did not breach any “right to freedom of expression and conscience,” for Christians have no such guaranteed rights in a Muslim polity. But keeping Muslims from praying at this former church is quite different; it does breach “the right to freedom of expression and conscience.”
There things stand, but it’s not hard to predict what Erdogan would like to do. He has always distrusted the Turkish judiciary, rightly regarding the courts as hotbeds of secularism. When he engaged in his vast roundup of more than 100,000 Turks, arresting 50,000 of them for supposedly taking part in a Gulenist coup in July 2016, there were many lawyers and judges among them. He quite possibly could let the word go out to Muslims that they should feel free to come to Hagia Sophia to recite prayers, or otherwise read verses from the Qur’an. There is now no countervailing secular force to stop him. Many of the secular Turks have lost their jobs; some have left the country, while others have been jailed. Still others are now employed in jobs that are far below, in influence and prestige, their previous employment, especially in journalism. And only 1% of Istanbul’s population is Christian.
But there is one consideration that might constrain Erdogan. The Turkish economy is on the skids. The foreign debt is enormous. Trump’s tariffs on Turkish steel and aluminum have devastated those important sectors of the economy. The Turkish lira is in free fall. But there is one perennial bright spot in the Turkish economy: tourism, especially from Western Europe. Tourism now brings in about $30 billion a year. If tourists from Western Europe visit the Hagia Sophia, they expect to find a museum, but if it is officially or unofficially turned into a place for Muslim prayer (or for sermons by imams), this may discourage some of those tourists who come to visit Istanbul as a multicultural city and do not want Muslim prayers to dominate the public space of Hagia Sophia, the most important tourist site in Turkey, and for centuries the most important church in Christendom. Erdogan is impulsive, but he’s keenly aware of how tourism helps to pay the bills. It’s the fastest-growing part of the Turkish economy, and tariffs can’t touch it. For that reason alone, Erdogan is likely to allow the Hagia Sophia to remain a museum, forsooth, with the time not yet right for it to become, officially, anything else.
Infidel says
Western European tourists who think Istanbul is worth visiting are out of their mind. They should spend that money of theirs visiting other countries in Western Europe, and if that’s too cheap or boring, they could visit other places in the world – Mongolia, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan… a lot of countries w/ rich cultural artefacts to explore.
As opposed to risking becoming hostages in Turkey, or for that matter, in any Muslim country whose government and/or people would wanna stick it to the infidel
Infidel says
Another point – Turkey’s economy would be fine, thanks to their support of and by Qatar. Ever since the rift w/ the Saudis started, Qatar has been busy supporting Turkey, hoping to have a strategic partner there. And Turkey can back Qatar w/ any military support they need
Westman says
Considering Turkey’s drought cycle are getting worse, maybe Erdogan can turn Hagia Sophia into a conversion facility to desalinate sea water. They can’t drink Qartar oil, lira, or dollars.
Any day now, Erdogan will be claiming that Israel is stealing Turkey’s rainfall…
European pagan says
Turkey is a beautiful country BUT I don’t want to travel there until Erdoğan is alive and I think Turkey will be like Iran. It would be the best when turkish people would return to tengrism
Michael Copeland says
It is gratifying that the State Council refers to Islam as a “cult”.
We can quote them on it.
gravenimage says
“Cult” here is just used as a synonym for “faith”. They are not saying anything pejorative about Islam.
Angemon says
They’ll never see a cent from me…
James says
What I dislike is the way activists in the US or Europe keep complaining that their rights are being violated. Linda Sarsour wants to fight for the right of her community so that women can continue to wear the hijab and not have it taken away. Or Ilhan Omar complains about Western imperialism and all the bigotry of the West and Trump. Where is their ability to see their own inconsistency. I wonder how long it will be before they try to turn the churches in Rome into mosques or churches like the Cologne Cathedral. Or the Washington Cathedral. It seems only a matter of time. What would happen if the West confiscated their mosques and turned them into museums or churches?
gravenimage says
James, this is all about Muslim supremacy.
mortimer says
How bad does the Turkish economy have to be before voters turn massively against these incompetent, corrupt politicians. Islamism is not going to put more bread on their tables.
Infidel says
Wtf is ‘Islamism’?
There is something called national pride, and the Turkic people have a history of being the greatest Islamizing force in the world – and Turkey sees itself as the leading inheritor of that history, regardless of where those actors were active – be it Samarqand, Buqhara, Agra, Qonyeurgench, Soltanyeh, Rum, Istanbul, Sarajevo, Tripoli or Astrakhan. Despite the fact that they didn’t found Islam, they got to not only spread it, but also controlled it under the Ottoman empire.
Even Kemal never managed to stamp out loyalty to Islam from within the Turkish people
mortimer says
BYZANTINE ART TREASURES IN ST.SAVIOUR’S CHURCH CHORA … ‘some of the best in the world’.
This ornate church was not constructed to be a mosque.
gravenimage says
Yes–the treasures of this great church are in terrible danger.
Crusades Were Right says
Odd how a Turkish “museum” looks EXACTLY like a Greek church! lol
Infidel says
Or how most mosques in Iran and the Indian subcontinent resemble structures that existed in Zoroastrian Persia
Eur says
The Umayyad mosque in Damascus is considered the fourth holiest place in Islam … and was originally a Byzantine cathedral dedicated to John the Baptist.The Byzantine church was built on a Roman temple.
In ancient times it was common to overlap the temples. What is not acceptable is to do these things today, it is a real insult to national and world heritage, but what else can we expect from Muslims?
gravenimage says
New Calls to Make the Hagia Sophia a Mosque Again
………………….
This is not the first time Muslim thugs have demanded this.
Battle says
The video only shows two examples of where it can be seen areas of the mosaics that were destroyed.
Tom says
“Assimilation is a crime against humanity. There is no moderate or immoderate Islam, Islam is Islam. The mosques are our barracks, The minorets are our bayonets, The cupolas our helmets, and the faithful our soldiers.” Tyyip Erdogan, President of Turkey 2008.
SAFI says
This doesn’t make economic sense BUT it could help boost Erdogan’s popularity since Turks are, according to polls, ovrwhelmingly in favor of “liberating” Hagia Sophia(as an islamist put it) by rededicating to Islam to serve as a Mosque again.