The Russian government has declared the matter of Hagia Sophia to be an internal matter for Turkey. The Russian government did take up the matter with Turkey and President Erdogan has apparently assured the Russians that the Christian-Byzantine iconography will be protected. The Russians did protest and members of the Russian Duma had sent protests to their counterparts in the Turkish Parliament. The Russian Church likewise publicly protested.
Two Bishops of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church have taken positions on Hagia Sophia. One Bishop denied that the conversion of Hagia Sophia was God’s punishment on the Ecumenical Patriarchate and stated that Hagia Sophia did not belong to the Patriarchate or to Turkey, but only to God. Another Bishop declared that the day may yet come when Hagia Sophia becomes a Church, and also went on to point out (correctly) that Hagia Sophia has been an issue for years but that Patriarch Bartholomew chose instead to intervene in the Ukrainian Church.
The Greek world must now decide how to proceed. The best idea has been suggested by some Greeks who believe that Kemal’s house in Thesaloniki should be seized from the Turkish Consulate and be turned into a genocide museum. Absolutely a great idea. The Greek Mayor of Thessaloniki in 1937 donated that house to the Turkish Consulate in a spirit of good will (without getting anything in return from Turkey such as Hagia Sophia).
In 1955, the staff at the Turkish Consulate bombed Kemal’s house in order to stir up anti Greek hatred for the pogroms in Constantinople. The Consulate should have been closed then, its staff arrested, and the house turned into a public restroom or a shelter for animals. In 2015, I walked by the Consulate-Museum while visiting Thessaloniki.
The place looks like something out of East Germany. There were security cameras and no one around to answer the door when I decided I would visit the Museum. A very sinister looking place and it is long past time the Consulate was closed and the house done away with. A genocide Museum would be perfect in honor of the Armenian, Greek, and Assyrian Christians slaughtered by Kemal.
It is also time to continue to work for the recognition of the Armenian, Assyrian, and Greek genocides. It is also time to take the gloves off regarding Turkey. While the support for Hagia Sophia has been welcome, most articles have been too deferential to the murderous Turkish regime. Kemal has been referred to as some sort of enlightener of the Turkish nation when he was a butcher.
In recent years, two excellent books have been published. “The Great Fire” by Lou Ureneck and “The Thirty Year Genocide” by Benny Morris and Dror Ze’evi which are masterpieces. The genocide of the Greeks is gradually gaining recognition. Working to gain full recognition of the genocide and working for justice for Cyprus and the defense of the Greek islands are the best ways to respond to the seizure of Hagia Sophia.