GREECE’S REACTION TO HAGIA SOPHIA BECOMING A MOSQUE

On Friday July 10, 2020, Turkey’s highest court reversed a previous decision that saw the 1934 conversion of the Hagia Sophia from a mosque into a museum. The court based its verdict on the fact that the Hagia Sophia was a property of the Fatih Sultan Mehmet Han Foundation and registered to be used only as a mosque. After being conquered in 1453, from the Muslim Ottoman Empire, it was last used as a mosque. Hagia Sophia, built by the Emperor Justinian I in 537, was once the largest and grandest church in all of Christendom and remains the center of Orthodox Christianity. It was converted into a mosque in 1453 when the Ottomans conquered Istanbul. It became a monument to a universal legacy that transcends religion and underscored Istanbul’s place at the heart of different cultures and faiths.

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s decree transferred control of the site to the Religious Affairs Directorate, to change its museum status and allow Hagia Sophia to become a working mosque once again. The decision to grant a status of museum to the Hagia Sophia was given by former President Mustafa Kemal Atatürk in 1934. The reasoning of the Council of State stressed that the government in 1934 had no powers to change the status of the religious structure. In 1934, it became a museum and is now a Unesco World Heritage site. Now, it is going to be a mosque again. Entry into the monument would be free of charge, foregoing the ticket price from several million visitors a year. The first Muslim prayers inside Hagia Sophia will take place on July 24. Turkish officials said the site would remain open to all and that its Christian icons and mosaics would not be damaged.

Hagia Sophia will always be part of global historical heritage

Reopening Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia for prayers will not deprive it of its identity, as it will always belong to the world’s historical heritage, İbrahim Kalın, Turkey’s presidential spokesperson, said this week. “Such a move will not hinder people visiting it”, he said. Turkey will still preserve Christian icons there, just like our ancestors preserved all Christian values, said Kalın. Opening up Hagia Sophia to worship doesn't keep local or foreign tourists from visiting the site,” Kalın stressed. “So a loss from the world’s heritage is not in question,” he added.

Erdoğan last week said that accusations against the country about Hagia Sophia directly target its sovereignty, adding that Turkey will always protect the rights of Muslims and the minorities living in the country. 

GREECE’S REACTIONS

To serve again as a mosque have sparked tensions between the historic foes and uneasy NATO allies Turkey and Greece. Greece will be imposing sanctions against Turkey for its decision to convert Hagia Sophia into a mosque. The Greek government is preparing a diplomatic push for the European Union to sanction Turkey as a first response to its decision of converting Hagia Sophia into a mosque. The idea of converting Hagia Sophia back into a mosque prompted immediate pushback from Greece, which sees itself as the heir to the Byzantine Empire. The Greek Foreign Ministry denounced the conversion as unacceptable and a breach of Hagia Sophia’s status as part of a UNESCO World Heritage site. The Greek culture minister, Lina Mendoni, condemned Turkey’s decision as a “direct challenge to the entire civilized world,” adding that Mr. Erdogan’s nationalism had pushed the country back six centuries. Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, provoked by the decision of Erdoğan to sign the decree for the conversion of Hagia Sophia into a mosque, in a written statement on Friday night expressed the unequivocal condemnation of Greece. “Greece strongly condemns Turkey’s decision to turn Hagia Sophia into a mosque. This decision – and in fact 85 years since its proclamation as a museum – offends its universal character. It is a choice that also offends all those who recognise the monument as a property of world culture. And, of course, it affects not only Turkey’s relations with Greece. But also its relations with the European Union, UNESCO and the global community as a whole. It is unfortunate that the Turkish leadership, which worked for the Alliance of Civilizations in 2005, is now choosing to move in the opposite direction,” he said.

The head of the Orthodox Church of Greece said that Turkey would not dare to turn Hagia Sophia, the historic former cathedral in Istanbul, into a mosque. Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias has a clear message to all European Institutions, that “Athens will respond harshly.”

MY ANALYSIS

All monuments which are established in Turkish boundaries only concern the Republic of Turkey. Converting Hagia Sophia into a mosque only concerns Turkey. Turkey has the legal right to decide what to do with all monuments and heritages in its boundaries. Turkey is a sovereign country and can freely decide what to do on its own and also it’s about Turkey’s domestic affairs. The importance of Hagia Sophia for Turkish people to see it as a mosque which was conquered by Fatih Sultan Mehmet in 1453. Seeing Hagia Sophia as a mosque was the testament of his. After this decision Turkish people who are nationalists and care about their country truly believe that our meritorious Ottoman ancestors will be resting in peace. Hagia Sophia is the symbol of conquest for all Turkish nations. However, after Greek people heard about Hagia Sophia's decision, they started to talk about Mustafa Kemal Atatürk museum house in Thessaloniki. Greeks are talking about to convert Atatürk’s birthplace house into a Greek genocide museum which they claim that we’ve done in 1919. That genocide is only in words, never happened. Greeks compare Mustafa Kemal Atatürk’s birthplace house with Hagia Sophia. By international laws, Atatürk’s museum house is near to the Turkish Consulate General and this means it belongs to the Republic of Turkey. It is considered as a Turkish territory, no one can touch or can not do something to Kemal Atatürk’s house. If they even attempt to do something then this will be casus belli for Turkey. Greeks burnt Turkish flags in Greece to protest the decision about Hagia Sophia. Burning a country’s flag is the most humiliating thing ever. If Greece was already a lawful state, it would not decide to increase its territorial waters from 6 miles to 12 miles in the Aegean Sea. As another example, they did not comply with the Treaty of Lausanne and armed their islands. Uses of Ottoman mosques in Greece are embarrassing. In Greece there are 721 Turkish structures. 198 of them are mosques and 48 of them converted into museums, rest of them are of no use. Nonetheless, the most offending one is the Arda Faik Pasha Mosque(built in the 16th century) which was used as a brothel and is currently in ruins. Although there is no community in Turkey in the last 20 years, 84 churches and by restoring the ruins of the churches opened for worship on certain days. Crucifixes to the sea were held in Mudanya and İzmir, rituals still continue. A congregation was brought to the opening from Greece. And now Greece threatens Turkey about converting our other mosques into churches. It would be more logical to convert them into churches instead of using them as brothels, at least they will be respected. Finally, The Republic of Turkey will continue to be a tolerant state. Like all our mosques, the doors of Hagia Sophia will be wide open to locals and foreigners, Muslims and non-Muslims alike. Hagia Sophia, the common heritage of humanity, will go forward to embrace everyone with its new status in a much more sincere and much more unique way.

ECENAZ DEĞİRMENCİ

POLITICAL SCIENCES and INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS/

MUĞLA SITKI KOÇMAN UNIVERSITY

SOURCES:

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/10/world/europe/hagia-sophia-erdogan.html

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2020/07/13/hagia-sofia-mosque-erdogan/

https://edition.cnn.com/videos/world/2020/07/12/turkey-erdogan-hagia-sophia-damon-vpx.cnn

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-53366307

https://www.trtworld.com/magazine/the-law-and-origin-story-of-istanbul-s-iconic-hagia-sophia-38029

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https://www.trtworld.com/turkey/turkish-court-rules-1934-conversion-of-hagia-sophia-into-museum-illegal-38028

https://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/hagia-sophia-converted-into-mosque-as-erdogan-signs-decree-156455

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