Hagia Sophia as a Mosque Again
Turkey'due south president has signed a prescript to formally turn the Hagia Sophia into a mosque - a move which threatens to upset Christians around the world.
The monument in Istanbul has been a disputed symbol betwixt Christianity and Islam for centuries - it was congenital as a Greek Orthodox Cathedral in 537AD only was turned into a mosque after the urban center was conquered by the Ottomans in 1453.
After the fall of the Ottoman Empire during the Showtime World War, Turkey's founding male parent Mustafa Kemal Ataturk turned Hagia Sophia into a museum in 1934; a sign of his delivery to a secular future for the country - separating state from faith.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan's conclusion to issue his decree comes subsequently a landmark decision by Turkey's high court that the Hagia Sophia's conversion into a museum was unlawful.
Greece described the ruling every bit an "open provocation to the civilised world", with the US and UNESCO also among those condemning the decision.
The move is not near creating more than space for prayer as Istanbul has more 3,000 mosques.
Rather, the conclusion reflects the wider societal struggle inside Turkey between secularism and President Erdogan's religious conservatism.
The usual crowd of tourists was absent as the announcement came, merely the predominantly Turkish media gathered outside Hagia Sophia.
Turkish officials have said opening Hagia Sophia to prayer will not finish tourists from visiting the site and have offered reassurance that the building'due south Christian icons will be preserved.
Nevertheless, historian Zeynep Ahunbay, who has worked on the conservation of Hagia Sophia for 27 years, doesn't run across how that will be possible.
She said: "With the images of Madonna, mother of Christ, and other saints on the walls - do they accept to pray in the presence of these images?
"It's a [UNESCO] earth heritage site and I want it to exist open to all nations and beliefs and accessible. If it becomes a mosque there are restrictions.
"They effort to put up curtains or other means of restrictions and that'southward not adequate for a world heritage monument," she added.
"It is non acceptable to go back in time. I'k really lamentable we have come up to 2020 and we are trying to become dorsum to the 19th century.
"In that location is already tension in Turkey because at that place is a reaction to these conservative people who make decisions as if we are an Islamic country," she said.
Turkey is overwhelmingly Muslim and this move to reclaim Hagia Sophia as a mosque is seen as a bid to heave Mr Erdogan'due south AK Political party's sliding popularity polls.
The move may prove popular with Mr Erdogan's conservative supporters and nationalists but church leaders have argued Hagia Sophia was Christian for well-nigh 900 years and Muslim for only 500 years.
Last twelvemonth the monument attracted more than than 3.7 million visitors but tourism and Turkey'south struggling economy have been desperately impacted by the coronavirus pandemic.
The Turkish economy had already been in a frail country and many believe this motility was to distract public attention from Ankara's crunch.
But flattened tourism and rise unemployment means any distraction could be brusque-lived.
The UNESCO World Heritage Site is one of the oldest and most hitting religious buildings in the globe.
Its 30m (98ft) dome, framed by four minarets, dominates Istanbul's skyline.
As a museum information technology has preserved its long history between Christianity and Islam, a symbol of Istanbul'due south position as a bridge between the E and the West.
It is possibly the only former building of worship in the world where you see this hybrid of 2 religions sitting adjacent in its frescos, inscriptions and striking mix of compages.
Some fearfulness it will now lose its sense of inclusion and get a divisive symbol.
During President Erdogan's time in office mosques have sprung upwardly in some of Istanbul's most important sites.
A newly-synthetic mosque now towers over the secular monument in Taksim foursquare.
As the mosque was being congenital, the city's opera firm was demolished - a symbol of the Ataturk era.
Hagia Sophia could exist open for prayers as early as 15 July - the appointment of the attempted coup in Turkey four years ago and now a national holiday.
Source: https://news.sky.com/story/hagia-sophia-istanbul-monument-becomes-mosque-again-after-erdogan-signs-decree-12025607
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