World reacts to Turkey reconverting Hagia Sophia into a mosque

[Xolodno]

UNESCO, Greece, Cyprus and church leaders among others express concern about changing status of the sixth-century site.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared Istanbul's iconic Hagia Sophia open to Muslim worship on Friday after a top court ruled the building's conversion to a museum by modern Turkey's founding statesman was illegal.

Erdogan made his announcement, just an hour after the court ruling was revealed, despite international warnings not to change the status of the nearly 1,500-year-old monument, revered by Christians and Muslims alike.

"The decision was taken to hand over the management of the Ayasofya Mosque ... to the Religious Affairs Directorate and open it for worship," the decision signed by Erdogan said.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/07/world-reacts-turkey-reconverting-hagia-sophia-mosque-200710135637861.html


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Well, I think I know whats coming in August...religious clashes....

This was on my bucket list of places to see....no point to it anymore.

[Mme. Defarge]

1. The Lost Voices of Hagia Sophia

https://www.npr.org/2020/02/22/808404928/listen-the-sound-of-the-hagia-sophia-more-than-500-years-ago
https://cappellaromana.org/lostvoices/

[Xolodno]

4. WOW! THANK YOU!

Heh...but now it really hurts. Would love to see the mosaics, but as a mosque, they will cover it all up. A real damn shame. I'm not Orthodox by any sense, but I approach the various works like one appreciates art.

[Mme. Defarge]

6. I consider this travesty to be

a crime against civilization. It must not stand.

[smirkymonkey]

9. +1000

[eissa]

2. A major loss of an iconic site

I’d expect nothing less from Turkey’s reactionary leader.

[Coventina]

3. God Damn It!!!

I hate religious fundies of all creeds!!



on edit: it was a bucket list for me as well. Now, I'm just scratching Turkey off entirely.

[Xolodno]

5. Yeah it sucks.

I've seen the mosaics in Basilica San Marco and I was impressed. I also happened to visit it on a Sunday...the acoustics were amazing.

An ironic turn of events, during WWI, Russia was going to get control of Istanbul and Hagia Sophia...and obviously rename it back to Constantinople. But, an inept Tsar....Revolution....Communists pulling out of the war, etc. Stopped all that from happening.

[Coventina]

7. Interesting! Thanks for that little bit of history.

I'd never heard that.

I really don't care what the ruling class is in Istanbul, but making Hagia Sophia a mosque again will undoubtedly further damage or destroy the Christian art that survived the first conversion.

There are PLENTY of beautiful mosques in Istanbul, doing this is pandering to Islamic extremism and just heart-breaking to see.

[Xolodno]

8. I know right!

There are plenty of beautiful Mosques out there...some I suspect I'll never get to see as they are located in Iran.

What good does it converting what was once the center of Orthodoxy into a mosque with a bunch of huge sheets on the walls? It only encourages extremists, inflames other Orthodox nations, etc. Wonder how the Kosovo and Serbia negotiations are going to go now? Turkey figuratively just stabbed Kosovo in the back.

[oasis]

10. "modern" Turkey.