Letter to Kathimerini

Greetings, 
My name is Theodore G. Karakostas and I have written to you before. I am a Greek American writer and the author of threebooks. Since 2013, I have been active on the issue of Hagia Sophia. I am writing to you in response to the July 23 article on UNESCOand Hagia Sophia. 

I have been in touch with UNESCO since 2013 when Turkey converted the Church-Museum of Hagia Sophia in Trebizond into a Mosque. I have written to UNESCO’s office in New York and spoken with some of their reps over the phone. In March 2015 while on a visit to Paris, I visited UNESCO’s headquarters to discuss Hagia Sophia. 

I raised my concerns over Hagia Sophia based on three particular problems created by the Turkish government. First, they converted the Hagia Sophia of Trebizond into a Mosque in 2013 a sure sign that THE Hagia Sophia would eventually be converted. The Turks also converted tow other Hagia Sophia Church-Museums in Nicea-Iznik and Adrianople-Edirne into Mosques. Many of their politicians at that time openly called for Hagia Sophia to be made into a Mosque and large crowds had gathered in front of Saint Justinian’s Church to pray.

In person in Paris I was specifically told by UNESCO’s chief of Europe and North America that Turkish officials had assured UNESCO that Hagia Sophia would not be converted into a Mosque. Previous to this, their reps from the New York office had told me that in fact Turkey as a sovereign country was entitled to do as they wished with any site within their borders. Furthermore, during the month of Ramadan in the spring of 2016, Koranic prayers were read in Hagia Sophia.

UNESCO had seven years to protest the Turkish conversion of Hagia Sophia but declined to do so. They wrote a letter to Turkish officials in 2020 just a week or so before Hagia Sophia was officially set to be converted. Way too late for them to protest as the Turkish government had fully committed itself to the conversion of Hagia Sophia and was prepared for any and all international criticism.

This latest statement on the part of UNESCO expressing “deepest regret” and “intense concern” is weak. UNESCO should be adopting a much harsher stance especially since news reports indicate that Turkey is no longer providing for the upkeep of Hagia Sophia since Justinian’s Church is filthy and there are cables all over the place. It is only a matter of time before the Erdogan government destroys the magnificent and divinely inspired iconography that serves to glorify Christ! 

UNESCO should be thinking of imposing sanctions of some kind on Turkey. Their statements should be criticized for failing to recognize and acknowledge the Greek Orthodox origins of the Great Church. As I told UNESCO’s Chief of Europe and North America in 2015, Hagia Sophia is a product of the Gospel and Orthodox theology. UNESCO has handled the issue of Hagia Sophia very poorly but can still do the right thing by documenting the mistreatment of the Great Church today and raising real protests with a much harsher tone than the weak statement that it has just released.
 

Theodore G. Karakostas