Hagia Sophia Mosque

From a church to a mosque, then to a museum and back into a mosque, Hagia Sophia has donned many garbs since it came into existence some fifteen hundred years ago. The iconic monument was built as an Orthodox Christian cathedral in Constantinople, now Istanbul, between 532 and 537 under the Byzantine reign. In 1453, it was converted into a mosque after the Fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Empire. Five centuries on – in 1934 to be exact – Mustafa Kemal Pasha, the first Turkish President and founder of modern day Turkey, transformed the majestic building into a museum as he moved to secularise the country.

And now in a decision that has antagonised many in the world, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has converted the Istanbul landmark into a mosque again after a top Turkish court last Friday annulled the 1934 decision to turn it into a museum. The US has expressed disappointment on Erdogan’s decision. France has deplored it. Russia, with which Turkey has bolstered ties in recent times, regrets the move. Greece, which considers itself the heir to the Byzantine civilisation, has condemned the ‘provocation’. The World Council of Churches has called for reversing the decision. And Unesco, which had declared the structure a World Heritage Site, ‘deeply regrets’ the move.

What is a ‘matter of sovereignty’ for the Turkish president is a ‘narrow-minded act’ for much of the world, particularly in the West. The Hagia Sophia decision is widely seen in the context of Erdogan’s quest for Islamising Turkey and burying the various aspects of secular philosophy incorporated into the government after the abolition of the Seat of Caliphate by Mustafa Kemal Pasha in 1923. Erdogan’s Islamic approach, coupled with his growing influence in the region, is what worries the world powers. By turning Hagia Sophia back into a mosque after nearly 550 years, Erdogan seems to have stirred up the hornets’ nest.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 13^th, 2020.

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