ISTANBUL – World public opinion is divided on July 10 in Turkey to turn the Hagia Sophia Historical Museum in Istanbul into a mosque.
Turkey’s Foreign Ministry shared a list of positive reactions to the resolution with Nikkei Asian Review, with more than 30 people and entities included. Among those on the list are Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Grand Mufti of Oman, Vice-President of the Senate of Pakistan, Saleem Mandviwalla, the leader of the opposition party in the National Assembly of Pakistan, Shehbaz Sharif, Malaysian and Indonesian parliamentarians, leaders of Islamic non-governmental organizations and academic organizations of Thailand.
Russia seems to be avoiding making any direct criticism on the issue, reflecting the delicate bilateral relationship between the two countries. Since Russia has a largely Christian Orthodox population, President Vladimir Putin talked to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the phone on Monday, during which he “drew the attention of Erdogan to the considerable public outcry in Russia” to the decision.
According to a Kremlin statement, Erdogan ensured that anyone wishing to make a stop at Hagia Sofia, adding foreign citizens, will, as well as ensure the protection of items from his collections that are sacred to Christians.
On the same day, the Russian Foreign Ministry declared that “this is a Turkish internal matter in which neither we nor the others intervene.”
Arab states have largely remained officially silent on the move, given that Turkey’s relations with major Arab countries like Egypt and Saudi Arabia are at a low point, while responses on their conventional and social media have also been divided and varied.
A rare expression of opinion by an Arab minister came from the United Arab Emirates. The Minister of Culture and Knowledge Development Noura Al Kaabi tweeted on July 11 that “Hagia Sophia has been a historic landmark for thousands of years. Changing its status will harm its cultural value. It has remained a valuable symbol and icon of interfaith dialogue between cultures and civilizations.”
Bilateral relations between the UAE and Turkey were damaged by Turkey’s policy of supporting Qatar in its diplomatic spat with the UAE and other countries in the Persian Gulf. A Saudi-led coalition of gulf nations severed ties with Qatar in 2017 over allegations of its support for terrorism.
Meanwhile, the U.S. and countries in western Europe have been more vocal in their opposition to the conversion of the monument.
After chairing a meeting of EU foreign ministers on Monday, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell told reporters in Brussels that they had expressed “broad support to call on the Turkish authorities to urgently reconsider and reverse this decision.”
The U.S. State Department said it was “disappointed” by the decision, while Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden issued a statement urging “Erdogan to reverse his decision.”
Pope Francis also said he was “very sad” and “sad” about the conversion of Hagia Sophia into a mosque.
President Erdogan had alluded to his preference to turn the museum into a mosque for a long time, but he had been wary of his actions.
In the past, he warned that his conversion can also result in a “high price” because Turkey manages thousands of mosques around the world, worrying about what might happen to those mosques. There are 6.5 million Turkish expats abroad, the maximum of them living in Western Europe. His comments may have alluded to concern about extremist attacks on Mosques led by Turkey or retaliation through foreign states opposed to mosques if Hagia Sophia were converted.
However, since its ruling AK lost seats in the mayor’s office in the primary cities, adding Istanbul and the capital, Ankara, in local elections in March 2019, the president has begun to give more weight to the plan.
Murat Yetkin, a prominent political journalist and author, wrote on his news analytics portal Yetkin Report that the economic difficulties in development through the coronavirus, as well as the dilution of the AKP’s electoral base through two new dissident political parties founded by Erdogan’s former lieutenants after local elections. , had led the president to turn Hagia Sophia into a mosque in an attempt to consolidate his support.
All opinion polls in Turkey show that the conversion of the Sainte-Sophie Museum into a mosque is supported by the majority of the country’s public. However, according to local pollster Metropoll, 44% of citizens also said the resolution will “replace the [political] timetable and save you discussion about the existing economic crisis.”
On 10 July, Turkey’s highest administrative court overturned previous decisions on Sainte-Sophie, with five High Court judges unanimously ruling that the 1934 cabinet ruling to turn the mosque into a museum “was not in accordance with the law.” Erdogan issued a decree to turn it into a mosque. The first sentence will take place on 24 July, with the participation of the President.
Hagia Sofia Cathedral, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, built in 537 under the Byzantine Empire and the maximum vital Orthodox church for almost a millennium. It then became a great mosque after the conquest of Constantinople (now Istanbul) in 1453 through the Ottoman Empire. Turkey’s founding father, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, turned it into an impartial religious museum in 1934 under the cabinet decree.
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