Zaimoglu was likely referring, as Sofuoglu did, to “images of the Byzantine empress Zoe. The Christian ruler married several times and is said to have had different lovers.” But doctrinaire Muslims don’t approve of images of Jesus, Mary, and the saints either, so if Zaimoglu and Sofuoglu are heeded, the historic Byzantine icons in Hagia Sophia could be lost forever.
“Turkish-born writer Zaimoglu welcomes the transformation of Hagia Sophia into a mosque,” translated from “Türkischstämmiger Schriftsteller Zaimoglu begrüßt Umwandlung der Hagia Sophia in eine Moschee,” Journalisten Watch, July 23, 2020 (thanks to Medforth):
Feridun Zaimoglu – a professing Muslim and a writer with Turkish roots and a German passport — can gain something from the conversion of Hagia Sophia in Istanbul from a museum to a mosque. The Turkish historian is already demanding the removal of Christian mosaics, since Muslims should not have to pray under the image of a “whore”.
“I welcome when a god is worshiped again in a house of worship,” said Zaimoglu in an interview with his employer, for whom he publishes literary reviews and essays. “After all, Hagia Sophia was not built as a depository and showroom for cult objects,” said the Turkish-born writer.
Zaimoglu showed understanding for the decision of the Islamic despot Erdogan to convert what was once the most important church in the Christian West into a mosque, as well as for the fact that people – in this specific case he was probably only referring to his Muslim brothers in faith – were devoted to holy places. “We are talking about traditional history, about history turned to stone,” continued the writer. “But for now, there won’t be masses of tourists coming to Hagia Sophia and taking pictures all the time.”
Muslim zealots are calling for the destruction of the world-famous Christian mosaics
Since pictorial representation of people is not allowed in the backward Islamic ideology, the historical Christian images of Mary, Jesus and Saints have to disappear during the Islamic prayer, which will take place tomorrow on Friday for the first time under media hype. Curtains will cover the mosaics during Islamic prayers in the former church, Erdogan’s government spokesman said. It has not yet been clarified whether the Turks will drill holes in the centuries-old mosaics to fasten brackets.
Turkish historian Ebubekir Sofuoğlu has already asked that the Christian mosaics be removed from Hagia Sophia, which has been converted into a mosque. “If the icons do not disappear from Ayasofya, this will be the first mosque to show the prostitute Zoe and prostitution,” wrote the Islamic zealot on Twitter. He alluded to images of the Byzantine empress Zoe. The Christian ruler married several times and is said to have had different lovers. The depictions are disrespectful, Sofuoğlu continues. “And the protection of these symbols and the nonsense has to stop.”
Critics fear that Hagia Sophia as a mosque could now be exposed to the dangers from which it was still protected as a museum. Muslims could feel called to destroy the easily accessible mosaics. So far, museum personnel have ensured that nobody came too close to them and that nobody could spray graffiti on the walls….
PRCS says
Islam has no place here.
Period.
About that, Zaimoglu leaves no doubt.
Cock Paul says
But he has a German pasport.
gravenimage says
Yes–he is using Germany as a base.
He also rejects the ideas of freedom and rationality:
https://academic.oup.com/fmls/article/51/1/53/599917
Cock Paul says
So I guess, Merkel let him in. Why do Germans vote for leaders who harming Germany?
gravenimage says
Actually, Paul, the majority of Germans did *not* vote for Merkel. She was only reelected because the opposition vote was too splintered.
medforth says
German Foreign Ministry hires Islamist who defends Israel’s destruction
German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Foreign Ministry has been plunged into a devastating new antisemitism scandal for the hiring of a radical Islamist who defends the annual Iranian regime-sponsored rally al-Quds Day calling for the obliteration of Israel.Andreas Görgen,the director of the Foreign Ministry’s department for culture and communication, welcomed the Islamist Nurhan Soykan on Monday on his Twitter feed, writing that Soykan will be on “our team Religion and Foreign Policy” at the Foreign Ministry.
More:
https://medforth.blog/2020/07/23/german-foreign-ministry-hires-islamist-who-defends-israels-destruction/
gravenimage says
Thanks for this disgusting information, Medforth.
Betty Amburn says
Merkel is doing the same thing Germany did when they ignored and allowed Hitler to take complete control of Germany and fell under his fascist dictatorship. And then hisbdeathncamps.
medforth says
Germany: Turkish politicians as Erdogan’s agents of influence?
A bevy of politicians of Turkish origin in Germany have invariably openly appeared as propagandists for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his party the AKP. Are their careers supported by Ankara?
German newspaper Der Westen is currently reporting on the case of Eyüp Odabasi, a long-time local Green politician of the city of Bünde in North Rhine-Westphalia, who is no longer allowed to stand for the election because of his overt and obvious pro-Erdogan propaganda. The Greens had protested strongly against Odabasi’s Turkish nationalist statements.
Can Odabasi now start a second political career in Turkey as an AKP politician? Similar cases have already confirmed such a presumption.
In this context, Der Westen lists a number of Turkish politicians, mostly SPD and Green Party members, who, after their political career in Germany, were able to start a second political career in Turkey as loyal Erdogan supporters: Ozan Ceyhun, a long-time member of the European Parliament (1998-2004) for the Greens and then for the SPD, worked as an advisor to the Turkish government in Ankara. He also ran for a seat in the Turkish parliament – as a candidate of the Erdogan party, the AKP. Today he is Turkish ambassador in Vienna.
Similarly, Mustafa Erkan, former SPD member in the Lower Saxony parliament, also ran unsuccessfully for the AKP in Turkish parliamentary elections and is now an advisor to the Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Cavusoglu.
What is particularly striking here, is that all the aforementioned Turkish politicians from the left-wing liberal parties SPD and the Greens, which call themselves “progressive”, easily switch to Erdogan’s ultra-conservative Islamic AKP.
Wellington says
Striking perhaps but not surprising since Islamic morals make a mockery of true morals. Started with the reputed founder of Islam and continues to this very day.
Islam is to religion what the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is to democracy—in brief, a farce on steroids.
Mark Spahn (West Seneca, NY) says
“I welcome when a god is worshiped again in a house of worship,” said Zaimoglu.
Any god? Well then, Hagia Sophia could host worship for different gods on different days of the week. Like Lord Zenu on Mondays for well-heeled Scientologists. And Tuesdays could be devoted to the god Crom (from 1:15):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBMY3VV5AMA
gravenimage says
Good point, Mark. Those fools who claim that any religion is better than none have *no idea* what this can entail.
revereridesagain says
Don’t forget the Flying Spaghetti Monster.
Cock Paul says
The Flying Spaghetti Monster dit nothing wrong.
gravenimage says
I think the Flying Spaghetti Monster is pretty benign. I’ll take him to “Allah” any day…
GreekEmpress says
Empress Zoe was hardly a paragon of virtue, but she was not a prostitute. And the important thing to remember about these icons is their historical importance and the spiritual meaning behind them.
And to Zaimoglu who reveres his prophet Mohammed, I can only say “Pot—meet Kettle”.
I have said before that I fear the Turks will find a way to deface or destroy these beautiful icons.
gravenimage says
I am so worried about this myself, GreekEmpress.
And yes–Muhammed was *far* worse–but Muslims consider him to be the “perfect man”–a pedophile, rapist, polygamist, slaver, and mass murderer.
SAFI says
There’s a giant disc with Muhammads name (in kufic calligraphy) hanging at one corner inside Hagia Sophia. I guess Muslims don’t mind praying to their God while the seal of a pedophile, rapist, polygamist, slaver, and mass murderer is hanging over their heads…
FYI says
Just imagine if muslims really thought about THAT:muhammed being a cross-dressing pedophile and all{and i’m just going from islamic sources here}
I mean we wouldn’t want to distract muslims from their ‘prayers’ would we?
Imagine if these thoughts came into their heads:”….Wait! ..allah has TWO right hands?muhammed’s companions were actual Literal wankers?have i wudu’d enough?Can allah sniff me from on high?Oh why did i eat that bacon sandwich hoping allah wouldn’t see me?..and muhammed had a magical winged flying donkey with a woman’s face?..and he visited a mosque that couldn’t have existed in muhammed’s time?…so much confusion,so much distraction…”
tim gallagher says
Whatever these Muslim scumbags, like this maggot, have to say in their attempts to insult Christians, and other non-Muslims, I can only say, right back at you, I personally have an even lower opinion of all the followers of the loathsome ideology of Islam, the evil belief system which a low life, murdering, paedophile barbarian, Muhammad, devised. There is nothing lower than Islam, so this clown should not be throwing about his feeble attempts to insult the more civilised Christians of the world. Look in the mirror, you Muslim low life, check out all the disgusting aspects of Islam and all the murder and misery it has brought to the world. Everyone should be ashamed to belong to Islam.
SAFI says
I’m pretty sure if it becomes a mosque sooner or later the mosaics will be destroyed at the request of the pious muslims. Contrary to a certain miscoception I heard the other day, the ottomans did not “preserve” the mosaics out of some “respect” for christian art, it was simply a lot easier and quicker to just plaster them over than destroy them from every surface and ceiling.
But this is pretty funny… just yesterday Erdogan said that “Ayasofya”… “was always ours , always a mosque”… this raises the question what was the portrait of that “whore” doing in this strangely named “mosque” all those years?.. And what does “Ayasofya” stand for in turkish?
gravenimage says
Exactly, SAFI. The Ottomans had no respect for Christianity or for art.
And “Ayasofya” is just the Turkish mispronuncition of “Hagia Sophia”.
SAFI says
But Hagia Sophia is Greek for “Holy Wisdom” which is a distinctly Christian theological concept https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_Wisdom
I don’t get it. I thought this was always a turkish mosque like Erdogan said. Why would they give such an odd Christian/Greek name to a Mosque?
gravenimage says
SAFI, I didn’t said Muslims understand what this means–or that they care.
I think they kept the name “Hagia Sophia” so no one would forget that this was taken by conquest.
tgusa says
The religion of rapists doesn’t want to pray under an image of a whore. They should be praying under much worse as they are under the complete control of their filthy minded behavior and of course their d**ks. Disgusting creatures they are.
gravenimage says
Muslim writer wants Christian mosaics removed from Hagia Sophia so Muslims don’t have to pray under image of “whore”
…………….
Muslims are not apt to stop the destruction at images of the Empress Zoe. These thugs have long wanted to destroy these priceless mosaics. The Ottomans had them plastered over.
I wrote two papers on the Hagia Sophia mosaics when I was at university. This will be an incalculable loss if Muslims destroy these great works.
Here is the mosaic this Muslim thug wants destroyed:
https://hagiasophiaturkey.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Constantine-6-Monomachos-and-Augusta-Zoe-Featured-Image_01-810×453.jpg
James Lincoln says
gravenimage,
Thanks for the link to a picture of the mosaic. Absolutely beautiful.
Likely, a picture is all that will remain…
gravenimage says
I hope not, James–but I fear you may well be right.
CogitoErgoSum says
Such are the problems of those who steal another religion’s places of worship. “Thou shalt not steal” is one of the top ten commandments NOT to break. A good ass whipping may not suffice for disobeying that one but if it is I hope it goes on and on for a long, long time in the fires of Hell for both Erdogan and this little pipsqueak – with only a hot rock for them to sit upon when it stops.
I love Iblis says
When a woman have many lovers its considered as immoral and they insult that woman as a whore. But a terrorist, pedophile Caliph can have unlimited slaves and even a common Muslim can have 4 wives but they still considered as “ethical”. A woman can be with as many people as she wants, with mutual consent. And finally, prostitutes are more moral than these terrorist Muslims.
revereridesagain says
They’re not the only religion that disvalues women for not being virgins. They’re just the most mean-spirited about it.
gravenimage says
Agreed, I love Iblis.
And Muslims can also have as many sex slaves as they want.
Verk says
An ugly man with an even uglier soul following the ugliest creed to ever appear on God’s good earth. The creed of demons, rapists, pederasts, murderers, enslavers, thieves and liars.
Let them pray in the Hagia Sophia. Their ululations mean nothing. It is their attempt to bring their foulness to a place of beauty, because that is all those genocidal cousin-marrying idiots are capable of.
revereridesagain says
Europe, look upon your future. What these savages do not burn they will steal.
gravenimage says
Grimly true.
Anne says
The 7th century diplomatic charm of Muslims has no equal.
OLD GUY says
This is the kettle calling the pan black, Muslim men are the biggest whore chasing and sex slave lovers in the world and they have the bad taste to call Mary the mother of Jesus a Whore. While this man calls her a whore she is praying for his soul and forgiving him of his false accusations.
How can Muslims complain about their made up islamophobia when they are offending millions of christians with their comments, but can’t stand for anyone to speak out against their actions and the truth about islam and Muhammad. Double standard.
mortimer says
The Islamic hatred of pictures will overcome a fanatical Muslim one day and he will vandalize the icons to ‘defend’ the mosque from jahiliya (pre-Islamic errors).
It’s inevitable that a fanatical Muslim will destroy an icon or attempt to do so.