Free Republic

As the time for afternoon prayers approaches, Onder Soy puts on a white robe and cap and switches on the microphone in a small 19th century room adjoining the Hagia Sophia. Soon, Soy’s melodic call to prayer rings out over a square filled with tourists hurrying to visit some of Turkey’s most famous historical sights before they close for the day. The room Soy is in — built as a resting place for the sultan and now officially called the Hagia Sophia mosque — fills up with around 40 worshipers, drawn not by the modestly decorated space itself, but by...

All throughout last week, some five or six Coptic churches in Egypt have “caught fire”— ... the Church of Abu Seifein (named after Saint Mercurius of Caesarea, who is revered by the Copts). At least 41 Christians — 18 of whom were children — were either burned alive, killed by asphyxiation, or ... Considering that Muslims have torched or bombed hundreds of Coptic churches over the decades in Egypt — and often when churches are packed — it is, of course, difficult to resist that explanation. Moreover, this last week was the “anniversary” of when Muslim Brotherhood sympathizers torched 62...

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan issued a presidential decree on Friday turning the historic Holy Saviour in Chora, a medieval Byzantine church in western Constantinople that was a museum, into a mosque. The move follows the July decision to convert Hagia Sophia to a mosque, a move condemned by the international community. The change in its status was passed in December 2019 but the decision of the State Council of Turkey had not been implemented, until today. Chora is one of the most splendid examples of Byzantine art, and still preserves mosaics and frescoes. The interior is covered with Bible...

The chairman of the Religious and Foundation Employees’ Union (Diyanet Bir-Sen), Hasan Türüt, has called on Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to allow a Muslim prayer to be performed in Hagia Sophia in Constantinople, following the lifting of the ban due to the coronavirus pandemic. According to Turkish media reports, Türüt said that the first Friday after the coronavirus pandemic the Muslim prayer should be performed in Hagia Sophia, as Mehmed the Conqueror did on the first Friday after the Fall of Constantinople. “Hagia Sophia is the means to bring about the resurrection of the world. We must all show...

The Turkish Supreme Court rejected a request from one of the religious groups. They had asked for the historical museum of Hagia Sophia to be transformed into a mosque. According to the Anatolian agency reporting the news on Thursday, the Court dismissed the case because of errors made in the written request. The basilica of Hagia Sophia was transformed into a mosque during the fall of Constantinople in 1453, then into a museum in 1935. According to Turkish law, worship is prohibited in museums.

For eight decades, the iconic Hagia Sophia [Ἁγία Σοφία, “Holy Wisdom”] – museum in Istanbul [Constantinople] has stood as a symbol of Turkey’s commitment to a secular society. Now that tradition is under siege by growing calls to convert the historic structure back into a practicing mosque. The 1,500-year-old structure originally was built as an Orthodox Christian cathedral. It was turned into a mosque in the 15th century after the Ottoman Turks defeated the Greek emperor in Constantinople and renamed the city Istanbul. In the 1930s, the founder of modern Turkey, Kemal Ataturk, turned it into a museum in his...

Observers are warning about Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s increasingly neo-Ottoman stance and disregard for secular prerogatives.” Indeed, and this new appointment essentially completes the motion of making the Hagia Sophia into a functioning mosque again. European Union officials ought to see this for what it is: a decisive rejection of any pretense of dealing with the Christian or post-Christian West on a mutually respectful basis. Erdogan is an Islamic supremacist and is pursuing an openly supremacist imperative. European officials who are still pushing for Turkey’s entry into the EU, as well as the ongoing phenomenon of massive Muslim immigration...

The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has condemned a bill recently introduced in the Turkish parliament that would “change the status of Hagia Sophia from a museum, which it has been since 1935, to a mosque. ... The 1,477-year-old Hagia Sophia, which is located in Istanbul, has had a turbulent history. The historic building, which was originally constructed under Emperor Justinian, was completed by 537 A.D. and is an iconic example of Byzantine architecture. It served alternately as a Roman Catholic cathedral and an Eastern Orthodox church until 1453, when the Ottoman Turks captured Constantinople and converted...

The European Union Parliament is pressuring the Turkish Government to restore Saint Sophia Cathedral from a museum into a Greek Orthodox Church. However the Parliament has set a requirement of 1.000.000 signatures on a petition before it makes this conversation a prerequisite for Turkey's admission into the European Union. Please sign the petition and forward to friends.

Pope Benedict XVI has visited one of Turkey's most famous mosques in what is being seen as an attempt to mend relations with the Muslim community. During his tour of the Blue Mosque in Istanbul, the pontiff paused in silent prayer alongside senior Muslim clerics. It marks only the second papal visit in history to a Muslim place of worship. Earlier, the Pope visited the nearby Hagia Sophia Museum - a site heavy with Christian and Muslim symbolism - drawing around 150 protesters. The Pope spent half an hour in Hagia Sophia, a domed complex that was once a Christian...

If you believe in the just case that Hagia Sophia should be restored to its proper religious role as a church, for which it was built in the first place, then we ask you to support our petition to the EU Parliament that Turkey should not be admitted as a member of the European Community until it restores Hagia Sophia to its original purpose as a church and not a museum. We need a minimum of 1.000.000 signatures in order to force the European Union to consider this proposal seriously and debate it immediately as one of the conditions to...