A travesty is being committed by the leaders of Turkey.

The latest involves a historic church that became a museum but is now being hijacked into a mosque.

Standing 105 feet into the air, the huge dome of the Hagia Sophia cathedral is a wonder to behold. I’ve been there. I can tell you firsthand. A magnificent combination of beauty and architectural genius, when it is lit up in the evening, it is one of the few structures that can rival the splendor of the walls of Old Jerusalem at night. Commissioned by Roman Emperor Justinian I in the mid-sixth century, the great church was erected in just under six years. For the next nine centuries, the worship center stood as a symbol and testimony to eastern Christianity.[1]

In 1453, however, after the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople, Sultan Mehmed II converted the cathedral into a mosque. The next 480 years saw the Hagia Sophia used as a place of worship by the Muslims of the Ottoman Empire. Then in 1935, after a four-year closure, the inaugural president of Turkey, Kemal Atatürk, secularized the grand structure and reopened it as a museum. Designated by UNESCO as a World Heritage site in 1985, the Hagia Sophia has for the past eighty-five years been open to all visitors who want to gaze up at its dome, wonder at its arches, and stroll among its artwork.[2]

But now Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has shocked the world by ordering this global treasure to be reconverted back into a mosque. The responses were immediate. UNESCO commented that it “deeply regrets” Erdogan’s decision. The organization’s director general, Audrey Azoulay, followed up with the statement, “Hagia Sophia is an architectural masterpiece and a unique testimony to interactions between Europe and Asia over the centuries. Its status as a museum reflects the universal nature of its heritage and makes it a powerful symbol for dialogue.”[3] From the Vatican, Pope Francis said, “I think of Hagia Sophia, and I am very saddened.”[4] Katerina Sakellaropoulou, president of Greece, was much more direct when she tweeted, “The decision of the Turkish leadership to turn ‪#HagiaSophia into a mosque is a profoundly provocative act against the international community. It brutally insults historical memory, undermines the value of tolerance, and poisons Turkey’s relations with the entire civilized world.”[5]

This action is typical of Erdogan. He has shown over and over again his aspirations to not just be the president of Turkey, but the sultan of a revived Ottoman Empire and the leader of the Muslim Brotherhood and all Sunni Islamists around the globe. His grand ambition was given evidence in the speech, delivered in Turkish, during which he made the announcement. Official Arabic and English translations were later offered. The Arabic translation retained the full speech, including one part where he linked reverting the Hagia Sophia back into a mosque with “the return to freedom of al-Aqsa.”[6] The Al-Aqsa mosque is located on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, making these words a veiled threat toward removing Israeli control of the Old City. The Arabic translation also included a portion in which Erdogan talked his goal of spreading Islam from Uzbekistan all the way to Spain. Not surprisingly, these mentions of al-Aqsa and Spain were excised from the official English translation.[7]

Erdogan is a man on whom the West must apply significant pressure to change his ways. He is no moderate. He is a Radical Islamist and is growing more dangerous month by month. The U.S. and other NATO members should begin discussing whether Turkey with Erdogan at its helm should remain a NATO ally. What’s more, the Christian world must pray for the Turkish people and their leaders. In the first century, Turkey was the place where the apostle Paul preached the gospel and planted New Testament churches. In the twentieth century, Turkey was the epicenter of moderate Islam and reform. Now, under Erdogan, Turkey is turning to the dark side.

—Joel

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[1] Encyclopædia Britannica, s.v. “Hagia Sophia,” last modified March 19, 2020, accessed July 14, 2020, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Hagia-Sophia

[2] Encyclopædia Britannica, s.v. “Hagia Sophia”

[3] Isil Sariyuce and Emma Reynolds, “Turkey’s Erdogan Orders the Conversion of Hagia Sophia Back into a Mosque,” CNN, July 10, 2020, https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/10/europe/hagia-sophia-mosque-turkey-intl/index.html

[4] “Pope Francis: ‘I Think of Hagia Sophia, and I Am Very Saddened,’” Vatican News, July 12, 2020, https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2020-07/angelus-pope-remembers-seafarers.html

[5] Katerina Sakellaropoulou (@PresidencyGR), “The decision of the Turkish leadership to turn #HagiaSophia into a mosque . . . ,” Twitter, July 10, 2020, 4:39 p.m., https://twitter.com/PresidencyGR/status/1281704749293883400

[6] Seth J. Frantzman, “Turkey Vows to ‘Liberate Al-Aqsa’ after Turning Hagia Sophia to Mosque,” Jerusalem Post, July 11, 2020, https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/turkey-vows-to-liberate-al-aqsa-after-turning-hagia-sophia-to-mosque-634700

[7] Frantzman, “Turkey Vows to ‘Liberate Al-Aqsa’”