Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias raised the issue of Hagia Sophia at a human rights council at the United Nations. Credit should be given to the Greek government for raising awareness of the Turkish government’s deplorable conversion of Saint Justinian’s Church. Except, Minister Dendias referred to Hagia Sophia in the context of culture.
Certainly, it would make sense to mention the cultural significance of Hagia Sophia. But the Minister should have also mentioned it as a source of religion and Christianity as well. Hagia Sophia was a Greek Orthodox Cathedral and the seat of the Ecumenical Patriarch until the Ottomans conquered Constantinople in 1453.
The Minister should also have mentioned Hagia Sophia as an important national shrine of the Greek nation as well. Can any Greek forget the men, women, and children who were butchered or taken away into slavery on the day that the Ottoman Turks entered Hagia Sophia? Greek officials must not only raise the issue of Hagia Sophia, they must stress why the Erdogan governments actions are so offensive and provocative not only against the world, but against Orthodox Greeks specifically.