Much has been written on Jihad Watch about converting the iconic cathedral Hagia Sophia into a mosque. This constitutes a supremacist victory for Islam. Icons will be concealed and tourists will now be required to remove shoes.
To add insult to injury, Turkey’s top imam, Ali Erbas, has “hailed the decision by President Erdogan to ‘break the chains’ on the spiritual center of Orthodox Christianity and claimed that a project to create an Islamic school (madrasa) is already underway.”
Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu thumbed his nose at the international condemnations Turkey has been receiving, stating:
“We reject the word `condemnation….This is a matter that concerns Turkey’s sovereign rights.”
Too many people do not realize that this move by Turkey merely demonstrates yet again the truth about normative Islam. Once this news cycle is over, most of the very same people who have condemned the conversion of Hagia Sophia will again resume their friendly dialogue with the same Islamic supremacists who share the same ideology that led to the Hagia Sophia decision.
There remains the view that the Hagia Sophia is an isolated case, just as analysts insisted that al Qaeda and the Islamic State were unique and isolated groups. Actually, Infidels are inferiors in normative Islam. 1400 years of bloody jihad has proved this repeatedly, and the jihad is ongoing. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has long envisioned the revival of the Ottoman Empire; the conversion of Hagia Sophia is part of that endeavor. So of course Turkey rejects the EU’s condemnation, and does so with scorn and arrogance.
“Turkey says it rejects EU condemnation over Hagia Sophia,” Associated Press, July 14, 2020:
ANKARA, TURKEY — Turkey’s foreign minister on Tuesday chided the European Union over its condemnation of a Turkish decision to convert Istanbul’s iconic Hagia Sophia from a museum to a mosque, saying the matter is an issue of national sovereignty.
Last week, Turkey cancelled the sixth-century former cathedral-turned-mosque’s 86-year status as a museum and said it would open for Muslim worship as of July 24.
The decision sparked criticism in the United States, Greece, and other Western countries as well as from Orthodox Christian leaders. Pope Francis expressed sadness over the move.
EU foreign ministers, holding their first face-to-face meeting in months on Monday, declared that they “condemned” the decision. EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell said there was “broad support to call on the Turkish authorities to urgently consider and reverse this decision.”
Asked to comment on the EU criticism, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told a joint news conference with his visiting Maltese counterpart: “We reject the word `condemnation.”‘
“This is a matter that concerns Turkey’s sovereign rights,” he said.
He argued that there were several mosques in EU-member Spain that had been converted into churches.
On Tuesday, Greece again expressed dismay at Turkey’s decision.
“This decision is certainly painful to us as Greek Orthodox Christians but it also hurts us as citizens of the world,” said Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. “This is not a Greek-Turkish issue, it is not even a Euro-Turkish issue, it is global. It is a universal issue.”
Mitsotakis added: “With this setback, Turkey is choosing to sever ties with the Western world and its values. It abandons a cultural direction of many centuries, preferring introversion. And it wraps with an artificial mantle of strength over its weakness.”
Meanwhile, officials from Turkey’s religious affairs authority, said the landmark structure can remain open to visitors outside of prayer hours, the state-run Anadolu Agency reported.
The Christian depictions inside are no obstacle to Muslim prayers….