The leader of Greek Orthodoxy, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew has warned that if Turkey persists with plans to convert Hagia Sophia into a mosque, this will turn millions of Christians against Islam. The warning comes two days before Turkey’s top court will rule on the issue.
“The potential conversion of Hagia Sophia into a mosque will turn millions of Christians around the world against Islam,” Bartholomew warned.
“We hope that wisdom and reason ultimately prevail,” he added.
Bartholomew also called on the people of Turkey to champion the monument’s universal character, underlining that as a museum, Hagia Sophia brings together people and cultures from all over the world and religious beliefs.
“It is a symbol of meeting, solidarity and mutual understanding,” he said and stressed that “it cannot be reason of conflict between two folks.”
“This church should not be reason of conflict between two folks,” he stressed.
The Ecumenical Patriarch recalled that they had sent already in 2010 a letter to the Department of Religious Affairs in Ankara, in which “we expressed our concerns about the change of the status.”
Unity is at stake. We “We expect that prudence and logic will prevail in the end,” he said.
Turkey’s Council of State will decide on the status of Hagia Sophia and whether it can be converted into a mosque on July 2, 2020.
The country’s highest court will examine the request for annulment of the presidential decree by the founder of modern Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, that turned the Hagia Sophia from a mosque into a museum in 1934.
The iconic Byzantine Basilica was the seat of the leader of the Greek Orthodoxy until 1453 when the Byzantines were defeated by the Ottomans who converted the church into a mosque.
More on Hagia Sophia and Erdogan’s efforts to convert it into a mosque here.
The best defense against this plan to turn Hagia Sofia into a mosque is to be found in the words of Mohammed pbuh IN THE KORAN.
When a Muslim Army conquers a Christian area the CHRISTIANS ARE TO BE ALLOWED TO KEEP THEIR CHURCHES AND WORSHIP IN THEM. There is that non Muslim tax to pay but in a lot of cases it was a lower tax than what was being charged by the former Christian rulers.
GO TO THE KORAN.
You have uttered nothing more than a lot of garbage…
Chapter 9, verse 29 of your Koran says that Christians & Jews must pay protection money (same as the Mafia extortion, actually) or they were to be killed or forcefully converted. The same verse also describes all Christians & Jews in the conquered lands, and to be treated as “negis”, which means sewage in Arabic.
As for your nonsensical claim of Muslim rulers charging a “lower tax?” …my backside. The world has woken up to your lies, my friend. Go and drink some more camel urine to wake you from your stupor.
They don’t need to start hating Islam all over again. Millions of them have already been hating Islam for centuries. Hence, this won’t make any difference. What will happen, will happen.
For five centuries Hagia Sophia remained a mosque .When the whole population converts to Islam, the church becomes a mosque and city is renamed as Istanbul from constantinopal. There are papers supporting this. There are several churches in Europe that have turned into mosques in a legal way. When the worshippers are turning away from their religion, the place of worship are inhabitated by more pious worshippers .There is nothing wrong in it.
If a building is built as a mosque on that peoples’ own land it is a mosque forever, so likewise this Greek peoples’ church on occupied Greek land is a church forever. If the Turks betray their god by worshipping in a church, their god will punish them. Christians & the Turk god united against the Turk far-right on this issue.
We need our other Hagia Sophia in Trebizond back too.