New in PJ Media: “If you look at history books, you will see that Turk equals Muslim,” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Thursday. He added that “a definition of Turkishness without the inclusion of Islam’s holy war spirit is merely an attempt to turn the Turkish nation into a folklore tale.” On Feb. 23, Turkey plans […]
Turkey revives plan to convert another historic Byzantine church into a triumphal mosque
The conversion of the Chora Church to a mosque, following several years after the conversion of Hagia Sophia, is yet another 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 […]
Erdoğan’s Cultural Genocide Against Turkey’s Christian Heritage
In July, the Turkish government under President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan turned Hagia Sophia, the most iconic church of the Orthodox Christian world, into a mosque. In August, the historical Church of the Holy Saviour in Chora was also turned into a mosque. With these initiatives, Turkey has decidedly declared its aspiration to confront the Western […]
Turkey’s economy plunges as tourists stay away after conversion of Hagia Sophia, Chora church to mosques
“A gesture to Muslims is [a] much more immediate [political gain] and preferable and the [gains from the] touristic side of Hagia Sophia can be negligible,” Sonmez argued. “That’s why he didn’t take it into consideration.” That is, the benefits of asserting Islam’s superiority over both secularism and Christianity outweighed for Erdogan any economic considerations. […]
Turkey’s appropriation of Chora church after Hagia Sophia shows Pope’s human fraternity document a massive failure
Here is the full statement I sent to Church Militant: The “Document on Human Fraternity” that Pope Francis signed with the Sheikh of al-Azhar, Ahmed al-Tayeb, and is now aggressively pushing upon the Catholic Church, states that “the protection of places of worship – synagogues, churches and mosques – is a duty guaranteed by religions, […]
Turkey: Erdogan converts historic Chora church into mosque
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 […]