The current church was built in 537 CE during the reign of Byzantine Emperor Justinian and became the seat of the Orthodox patriarch of Constantinople until the Ottoman invasion in 1453, when it was converted into a mosque. Then, following the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire after World War I, Turkey’s secular leader, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, converted the mosque into a museum. But today, Turkey’s Islamist government is looking into reconverting the museum into a mosque.
In an article that aimed to trace Erdogan's moves this year in the run-up-to the Presidential elections this summer, the Turkish newspaper Radikal, and its author Omer Sahin, reveal that Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) is considering organizing a special prayer in this historic for Christianity architectural setting ahead of the upcoming presidential elections in August.
The move, claims the author, is expected to come amid a wider "reform package" that is going to contain important steps on several thorny issues, from the opening of the Greek Orthodox Halki Seminary to giving legal status to Alevi cemevis as official places of worship.
The Turkish government is now concerned over the possible reactions that such an event could spark internationally.
And they should be!
For 1000 years Agia Sophia was the largest Christian cathedral in the world and the emblem of Byzantium.
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew has expressed strong opposition to the potential conversion of Agia Sophia into a mosque. A while back, and while speaking during a debate at the Synaxis of the Primates of the Orthodox Churches, he said that if Agia Sophia becomes a place of worship again, then it should operate as a church.
"After all, this is why it was built,” underlined the Patriarch.He said that the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the Greek Orthodox church is strongly opposed to such a scenario and, along with all Christians from all over the world, will react to this conversion.
In such a framework, and in a ploy to balance potential controversy and global outcry by hundreds of millions of Christians, the reform package prepared by Erdogan's government is expected to include steps regarding the historic Halki Seminary. Ankara has reportedly completed the preparations for ensuring the reopening of the Greek Orthodox Seminary of Halki, located on Constantinople's Heybeliada island.
In fact Erdogan's government has already set two preconditions for opening the seminary. One of these decisions calls on Greece to cease appointing state muftis (so that Turkey can appoint them in Thrace with the aim of Kosovizing the region) and the second concerns the construction of the controversial mosque in the heart of the Greek capital.
The other reforms prepared by Erdogan's government are expected to contain a change of approach on cemevis to respond to one of the most significant demands of the Alevis. The government might even introduce a debate on legally recognizing Cemevis as worship places, before the anniversary of the Gezi protests in late May.
According to the report in Radikal, the AKP also foresees adopting a softer stance over 2013's Gezi protests, and "enhancing dialogue" with protest figures "who criticized the government but also reacted against vandalism."
Erdogan's government may also gear up the normalization process with Israel after the deal on compensation over the Marmara raid, with the reassignment of ambassadors from both countries (something that is obviously not in the interests of Greece at the present moment).
The fresh "reform package" comes as increasing numbers of AKP figures voice their opinion that Erdogan would be the most suitable candidate for presidency, rather than Abdullah Gul.
It is obvious that Erdogan's ambitions have been hampered by his own authoritarian streak, allegations of corruption made against him, and the Gezi Park protest movement. And let us not kid ourselves, his aim is to win the presidential elections.
When we say that nothing has dampened the Ankara government's ambitions, we mean nothing! Not the bribery scandal that broke out on December 17, 2013 when three ministers in the AKP-led government were forced to resign because of actions blamed on their sons, forcing the prime minister to reshuffle his cabinet; not the clash with Fethullah Gulen, accused by AKP leaders of instigating the Gezi Park protest against the AKP's hold on power; not the recordings recently posted on YouTube in which Erdogan and his son Bilal are heard talking about the use of millions of dollars.
All the above never once undermined Erdogan's unlimited desire to move into Cankaya Kosku, Turkey's presidential palace. This could be done in the elections next August when, for the first time, a Turkish president will be elected by universal suffrage following a referendum Erdogan won by a landslide.
For Erdogan, all this might not pay off because there is a good chance that he might still be humiliated in May's local elections, where he will need at least 40 percent of the vote to win (and from what we hear he is not likely to get the 50 percent he received in the 2011 elections but alot less). Not even a weak opposition, nor his penchant for authoritarian rule, (as evinced by his outrageous law to censor the Internet that was recently signed by President Abdullah Gul) can guarantee him a 40 percent threshold.
Hence, in order to become president, Erdogan came up with the above crazy ideas (reopening the Halki Theological School and converting Agia Sophia into a mosque in May 2014).
But let's be honest, the conversion of Agia Sophia into a mosque is a dream that right-wing nationalist Turks have entertained for tens of decades. All right-wing Turkish leaders, from Menderes and Ozal to Erbakan have had to deal with the issue at some point.
In 2013 when members of Erdogan's party asked when Agia Sophia would reopen as a mosque, their leader said that, "the Sultanahmet (the Blue Mosque across from Agia Sophia), is almost empty for Friday prayers. We should think first to fill it before thinking about Agia Sophia," but today this ha obviously all changed.
HellasFrappe understands that right-wing nationalist voters and AKP officials were just waiting for the right moment to implement this idea. However, if converting a building into a mosque is not that difficult in itself, Western and world reactions will (and should be).
The fact is that reopening Agia Sophia to prayers is a demand the Islamic movement in Turkey has regularly voiced to mobilize the conservative masses. For Islamists, closing Agia Sophia to Muslim worship and making it a museum was a trauma inflicted upon them by the secular Turkish Republic and they have always viewed this as an insult and victimization.
This is why the reopening of this historical for Christianity church to prayers is an opportunity that the Islamists have been waiting for because in our opinion here at HellasFrappe it is a historic settling of accounts with the secular republic.
The move also explains why the Islamists of Turkey celebrate the 1453 conquest of Constantinople more impassionedly. We here at HellasFrappe believe that for them, it is about restoring some old symbols of the Ottoman reign eliminated by the secular and modern republic and transforming the city in the Islamic sense. In such a context, reopening this sacred Church to Islamic prayer is not a legal but purely ideological and political issue, and let us not kid ourselves it is a major milestone in constructing the new Islamic identity of Turkey.
Turkey knows that for millions of Christians worldwide Agia Sophia symbolizes the history of Christianity but for them it symbolizes the height of the Ottoman power. In fact for Turks, the conversion of Agia Sophia into a mosque would simply be another “conquest,” or simply put, a victorious notch in the proverbial belt of an re-ascendant Ottomanism.
So in all reality the desire by Ankara's government to turn Agia Sophia into a mosque is not about Muslims wanting a place to pray (because as of 2010, there were more than 3,000 active mosques operating in Constantinople alone), but it is rather about their reveling, and trying to revivify, the glory days of Islamic jihad and conquest.
But converting Agia Sophia into a mosque now, after it has operated as a museum for decades, would be an act of cultural aggression against Christians all over the world, especially the Greek Diaspora in Constantinople which has managed to hang in there throughout the decades despite all the difficulties that were thrown their way by fanatic Islamists.
Finally, if Agia Sophia is turned into a mosque, it is without a doubt going to be a fundamental contradiction for Erdogan, who in 2005 launched "Alliance of Civilizations" with the Spanish Prime Minister Jose Zapatero. Why? Because such a step is - without a doubt - not going to serve an alliance of civilizations but rather Huntingtonian's view of the "clash of civilizations."
Friends wake up!
The capture of Constantinople (and two other Byzantine splinter territories soon thereafter) marked the end of the Roman Empire, an imperial state which had lasted for nearly 1,500 years. The Ottoman conquest of Constantinople also dealt a massive blow to Christendom, as the Ottoman armies thereafter were free to advance into Europe without an adversary to their rear.
Do you want this historical moment to repeat itself?
We here at HellasFrappe are guessing NO.
If you are a fan of HellasFrappe, then please inform your friends and family about this issue. Post this article on the social networks and spread awareness on this controversial subject in any way you can. Conduct your own research on the subject and raise this issue on a local, and federal level. Christians all over the world must unite now more than ever and never permit this to happen. If you are afraid that your voice and/or action will go unnoticed, then think again. One pebble on a beach cannot move a mountain... but a beach full of pebbles can.
Presently, Christians are as a group the most persecuted, out of sheer numbers, across the world. This means they are being killed, tortured, imprisoned and eradicated as well as sent into exile for their beliefs. Enough is enough!
Thank you for your attention
The HellasFrappe Team
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