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Turkey: Erdogan converts historic Chora church into mosque

Aug 21, 2020 9:00 am By Robert Spencer

The conversion of Hagia Sophia to a mosque, followed so closely by this conversion of the Chora church, is a declaration of Islamic supremacism. Erdogan is signaling the victory of Islam and its supremacy not only over Christianity, although that is certainly part of what he is doing, but also over Ataturk’s secularism. Ataturk made Hagia Sophia and the Chora church into museums. Now Erdogan has made them mosques again. Islam is thus shown to be superior to Turkish secularism, the definitive end of which is at hand.

Also noteworthy is the fact that during the Ground Zero Mosque controversy, we were denounced all over the establishment media for saying that the mosque at Ground Zero would be regarded as a triumphal mosque. There was no such thing, we were told. Of course.

“After Hagia Sophia, Turkey’s historic Chora church also switched to mosque,” Reuters, August 21, 2020:

ANKARA (Reuters) – Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan reconverted the historic Chora church, one of Istanbul’s most celebrated Byzantine buildings, into a mosque on Friday, a month after opening the famed Hagia Sophia to Muslim worship.

The mediaeval Church of the Holy Saviour in Chora, built near the ancient city walls of Constantinople, contains 14th century Byzantine mosaics and frescoes showing scenes from biblical stories.

They were plastered over after the city was conquered by the Muslim Ottomans in 1453, but brought to light again when – like Hagia Sophia – the building was converted to a museum by Turkey’s secular republic more than 70 years ago.

Erdogan, whose AK Party is rooted in political Islam, has positioned himself as a champion of Turkey’s pious Muslims and last month joined tens of thousands of worshippers in the first prayers at Hagia Sophia in 86 years….

Last year a Turkish court annulled a 1945 government decision converting Chora – known as Kariye in Turkish – into a museum run by the Education Ministry.

On Friday, an edict signed by Erdogan and published in Turkey’s official gazette declared “the management of the Kariye Mosque be transferred to the Religious Affairs Directorate, and (the mosque) opened to worship.”

A church was first built at the site in the 4th century, but most of the existing building dates to an 11th century church that was partly rebuilt 200 years later following an earthquake….

At Hagia Sophia, curtains have been drawn in front of an image facing worshippers of Mary and the infant Jesus.

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Filed Under: Featured, Islamic supremacism, Turkey Tagged With: Chora church, Istanbul


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Comments

  1. talleyrand says

    Aug 21, 2020 at 9:21 am

    another kick in the teeth from the ideolgy of peices , never know another earth quake may happen and it all ends up aroung the ankles
    IT is now lost to those of other faiths and again Atta Turks reforms tossed to one side aided by the mad mullas and brain washed
    SAD realy when you think that idividule thought is a thing of the past in the countries that follow the ideology of Pieces and terror and fear is the norm

    • gravenimage says

      Aug 21, 2020 at 7:58 pm

      I don’t actually want to see this historic church destroyed by an earthquake.

  2. juan says

    Aug 21, 2020 at 9:26 am

    Let’s see how dialog solved this issue.

  3. Jaladhi says

    Aug 21, 2020 at 10:00 am

    Muslims steal and loot all non-Muslim religious worship places – temples, churches, synagogues! Erdogan is doing what Muslims do best – steal, steal, steal,.. and many other criminal enterprises!

  4. European pagan says

    Aug 21, 2020 at 10:32 am

    They have enough mosques, what does he want??

    • Avenger says

      Aug 22, 2020 at 12:11 pm

      Christians build and embrace, Muslims rob and destroy.

  5. LB says

    Aug 21, 2020 at 10:34 am

    This should come as no surprise. If Erdogan managed to get away with converting THE Hagia Sophia with ZERO consequences from anyone, he can get away with pretty much anything. And you can be sure that the Turks will not stop until every single non-islamic building, relic, art, and even people have been permanently erased and whitewashed from Turkey as if they never existed. That is no different than committing genocide, which is nothing new for the bloodthirsty Turks. That’s why I keep saying that Turkey is the most evil entity to currently exist in the entire world (not even ISIS can compare to the Turks’ dozen+ centuries of mass slaughter and enslavement) and should be permanently removed off the face of the Earth.

    • Avenger says

      Aug 21, 2020 at 12:49 pm

      You nailed it LB!
      Once the US ceases military and economic assistance turkey will implode. It has no other allies.

      • Avenger says

        Aug 22, 2020 at 12:09 pm

        Turkey murdered 3,000,000 of its own citizens in the early 1900’s. Don’t even try to compare the two nations. Trump has stopped all aid to Pakistan and Turkey is next. The US helped stop the Axis powers saving millions of lives while Turks sided with the Nazis during WWII.

        Now go ahead and babble on about how the US ravaged the native Americans.

      • gravenimage says

        Aug 23, 2020 at 8:29 pm

        Russia has certainly been canoodling with Turkey of late.

  6. Buraq says

    Aug 21, 2020 at 10:36 am

    After Hagia Sophia, Turkey’s historic Chora church also switched to mosque – Reuters .

    Everybody should use the word ‘redesecration’, not ‘switched’ or anything else. So, ‘After Hagia Sophia, Turkey’s historic Chora church also redesecrated to mosque.’

    That’s better! More accurate!

  7. Michael Copeland says

    Aug 21, 2020 at 10:41 am

    Reuters say that the AK Party “is rooted in political Islam”.
    This nourishes the idea that there is a peaceful, non-political, worship-only Islam. There is not.
    Islam is rooted in political Islam:
    “Islam is not like Christianity. Our Islam is political”, said Mullah Krekar.

    Reuters, please begin the Learning Curve.
    https://gatesofvienna.net/2020/07/islam-is-government/

  8. Man of Iblis says

    Aug 21, 2020 at 10:59 am

    In my eyes Erdog is the most evil and most dangerous person on the world. At least biggest danger to the Europe. This power-hungry tyrant will not stop unless European countries do something about him.

  9. FYI says

    Aug 21, 2020 at 11:32 am

    Surely allah,the greatest of all deceivers{HINT#1:”allah khayru i makireena”koran 3:54}the Arab god whose greatest enemy is a MAN called the ‘King of Kings'{HINT#2:Sahih muslim Vol 5 hadith #5611} and whose greatest prophet muhammed{SAP} the fat cross-dressing pederast midget{Abu Dawud 40:4731 etc}will be delighted and will richly reward sultan erdolf in his carnal paradise for such thievery.

    For allah is OK with stealing:it says so in his Holey book!

    “allah promiseth you much booty that ye will capture and hath given you this IN ADVANCE
    and hath witheld men’s hands from you,that it may be a TOKEN for the believers and he may guide you on the right path”
    koran 48:20

    There is nothing nicer than a STOLEN church{or a Hindu/Buddhist temple etc} as a TOKEN for the muslims!

    Oh wait a minute!How is STEALING OK?So allah is happy to permit stealing{and murder k2:191 etc}and claims that he is guiding his muslims ‘on the right path’?

    It seems allah MISSED the commandments…didn’t he?
    {Law#1 Deut 6:4-9,Law #2 Lev19:18,the Exodus 20 Decalogue which condemns STEALING}

    How convenient of the Arab supremacist author of the Book of Holes to give permission to violate YHWH the Actual God’s Laws:ideal for a supremacist war-loving cult.

    How inconvenient of allah to have left out a formal listing of these Laws in his Book of Holes:the only way to find them is to follow allah’s advice koran 10:94 and consult those who know the..Bible.

    Of course when the Great Sultan erdolf dies it won’t be ‘allah’ who judges him:it will be the One whose stolen property the muslims are ‘praying’ in.There is no point explaining it to muslims
    Yes it is a wordly triumph to muslims:but given muslims ‘pray’ to a god whose enemy is the King of Kings {or HINT#3:Jesus Christ the HAGIA SOPHIA}the One who will be judging them,it isn’t as big a victory as they think.
    The funny thing, is they cannot see that.

    I laugh at muslims stealing Christian Churches for this reason:Their ‘prayers’ to their false god are worthless anyway.

  10. Sylvia Drummond says

    Aug 21, 2020 at 12:25 pm

    Christianity does’nt reside in churches, it is in the heart and the mind and that can never be eradicated.

    • Avenger says

      Aug 21, 2020 at 12:42 pm

      Oh how heart warming. Too bad that has nothing to do with Erdogan erasing Byzantine history.

  11. somehistory says

    Aug 21, 2020 at 2:03 pm

    satan tries to insult and offend Almighty God, Jehovah. satan’s children try the same things with those who worship Jehovah. Humans can’t get to God, so they go after those who worship Him.

    moslims believe this is the ultimate submission of Christians. er dog wan is just doing what he has the flimsy power to do. He will do more of it before he is through, before he is brought to a finish by the One he attempts to offend by offending those who see these churches as honoring God..

  12. Boycott Turkey says

    Aug 21, 2020 at 2:55 pm

    Erdogan is the Anti Christ

  13. Amir says

    Aug 21, 2020 at 3:30 pm

    He wants War!

  14. Ade Fegan says

    Aug 21, 2020 at 3:48 pm

    The more islam tries to enforce it’s supremacy
    The more inferior it becomes

  15. Kim B says

    Aug 21, 2020 at 4:51 pm

    No!!!! The walls and ceiling of the Chora Church are COVERED in biblical frescoes and mosaics. How can it be used as a mosque?

    When they recently converted the Hagia Sophia into a mosque they covered the Christian frescoes with curtains. (Thank God! When the Ottomans conquered Istanbul they plastered over the frescoes. It took years of painstaking work to retrieve them).

    Hopefully the Muslims will not permanently destroy the Christian frescoes in either the Hagia Sophia or Chora Church.

    • gravenimage says

      Aug 21, 2020 at 8:03 pm

      Yes–I worry about what is going to happen to this great art.

      Here is the beautiful dome:

      https://img.theculturetrip.com/768×432/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/9478973654_6da3097ae9_k.jpg

      And some of the frescoes:

      https://www.willflyforfood.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/chora-church11.jpg

      Here’s an overview:

      https://thumbs.dreamstime.com/z/chora-museum-kariye-church-istanbul-turkey-istanbul-turkey-october-ceiling-mosaics-byzantine-church-chora-istanbul-102879030.jpg

  16. Kim B says

    Aug 21, 2020 at 4:53 pm

    As a follow up to my post, I have beautiful pictures of the Christian frescoes in both the Hagia Sophia and Chora Church. Can you grant me permission to upload them? Or I can create a gDrive and share them with you and you have my permission to use them.

    • gravenimage says

      Aug 21, 2020 at 8:05 pm

      Kim, you can contact Robert Spencer at the “Contact Us” box on the right-hand side of the page. I know I’d like to see them.

  17. gravenimage says

    Aug 21, 2020 at 7:56 pm

    Turkey: Erdogan converts historic Chora church into mosque
    ……………..

    More Muslim supremacism and destruction of “Jahillya”.

    • GreekEmpress says

      Aug 21, 2020 at 8:41 pm

      Another “Ottoman slap”.

      • gravenimage says

        Aug 23, 2020 at 8:30 pm

        Grimly true, GreekEmpress.

  18. SAFI says

    Aug 21, 2020 at 8:12 pm

    The “Chora” church is home to some of the greatest mosaics in mosaic art history and some of the greatest byzantine frescos painted in what I would call proto-renaissance style.Now they’ll all have to be hidden somehow (hopefully not destroyed) for the pious muslims to be able to pray in their new “mosque” undisturbed by the presence of “idolatrous” images. A sad day for Christianity and for Art alike…

  19. Rob says

    Aug 22, 2020 at 5:00 am

    Mashallah excellent news.

    • gravenimage says

      Aug 22, 2020 at 10:23 pm

      How is Muslim thugs seizing other’s places of worship excellent news?

      “Rob” here, despite his misleading username, is a thoroughgoing apologist for Islamic savagery.

      • Mateen says

        Aug 23, 2020 at 8:05 am

        Or, on the other hand, his username is a perfect description of Islam’s approach to all things non-Islamic which it finds to be valuable but not already in its possession.

        • gravenimage says

          Aug 23, 2020 at 8:31 pm

          Also grimly true, Mateen.

  20. Verk says

    Aug 22, 2020 at 5:14 am

    The Turks showing their true colors once again….A vile race of violent, treacherous barbarians with zero contribution to humankind. Just plunder, theft, rape, murder and genocide.

    • gravenimage says

      Aug 23, 2020 at 8:38 pm

      This is the ugly legacy of Islam.

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