In the latest developments regarding Hagia Sophia. A Turkish professor has called for the removal of mosaics from Hagia Sophia. This is now the second time a Turk has called for the removal of mosaics from Hagia Sophia. The Professor is offended by the image of the Byzantine Empress Zoe who he called a “whore” which is offensive to the conquering Sultan Mehmet II (more on him below).
The first call for the destruction of the Christian mosaics of Hagia Sophia centered around the images of the Serapheim. According to Saint Dyonisios the Areopagite, the Serapheim are the highest ranking angels. The ranking of Angels are the Serapheim, Cherubim, Thrones, Dominions, Virtues, Powers, and Archangels. It is unclear why the Turks were offended by the Serapheim in particular and not by the other iconography. Of course, we are not dealing with rational people.
The Holy Synod of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church took a position criticizing Turkey for the move to convert Hagia Sophia and emphasized the importance of the Church to Orthodoxy. The Bulgarian Church joins the Churches of Russia, Serbia, Rumania, Jerusalem, Georgia, Cyprus, Greece, and Albania in criticizing the Turkish government’s plans for Hagia Sophia. This is in addition to the Vatican and the World Council of Churches.
A commentator in the newspaper, “The Saudi Gazette” has condemned President Erdogan for the conversion of Hagia Sophia. In Egypt, the Grand Mufti has also condemned President Erdogan’s decision and said that Islam prohibits the conversion of Churches. These voices in the Muslim world that are protesting the conversion of Hagia Sophia are very much welcome. On the other hand, Iran has praised President Erdogan for converting Hagia Sophia.
Returning to the Turkish Professor and Sultan Mehmet II. The Professor objects to the depiction of the Empress Zoe for being in his words, “a whore”. Quite ironic considering that the conquering Sultan Mehmet II was not only a heavy drinker (in contrast to Islamic teaching) but a homosexual and a pedophile. According to the great Byzantine historian Steven Runciman, after the conquest of the City the Sultan asked the Grand Duke Lucas Notaras to help him rebuild the city.
Upon meeting the Grand Duke’s two sons the twenty one year old Sultan expressed an interest in the younger boy. The Grand Duke said no and for this refusal both the Duke and his sons were sentenced to death by decapitation. Apparently, the Turks need some reminding of Mehmet’s personnel life, especially as he is the Turkish President’s hero.
It appears that despite assurances that President Erdogan has given the Russians, the mosaics of Hagia Sophia will ultimately be destroyed. Turkish assurances are worthless in any circumstances. The fact that Turkish academics and others are openly demanding the destruction of a particular mosaic indicates they have a Taliban mentality.
Despite what this fake Professor says, Hagia Sophia is not a Mosque. Hagia Sophia is a Church and was established as such in the sixth century. Other than disregarding the theological origins of Hagia Sophia, this pseudo academic disregards the historical and cultural relevance of the iconography of Hagia Sophia.
President Erdogan had the chance to improve his image which has taken a beating because of his government’s collusion with ISIS. If he had been inclined to respond positively to the international appeals to leave Hagia Sophia alone, he could have demonstrated an inclination for moderation and restraint. Instead, he is affirming his image as an extremist.
5 replies on “Hagia Sophia Diaries Day 7”
I don’t think Erdogan is as much of an Islamist as he puts on. He is massively corrupt and has been skimming his personal funds off of Turkish Government contracts for decades. He uses the Turkish state bank (in Turkey there are privately owned banks and ‘state owned banks”) Halkbank to launder and hide his private funds. It’s rumored his personal net worth is in the Billions of Dollars, certainly the Hundreds of Millions. At any rate, he uses the Islamist thing to provide cover for his corruption and his policy failures in Turkey. Their economy is shattered right now and the Turkish currency has taking a real beating. Up to a year ago, Erdogan was verbally opposed to turning Hagia Sophia into a Mosque, that he has done a 180 on this now is a clear indication he feels he’s in deep political trouble. The AKP party commits a lot of voter fraud to win elections and they have control over the Courts, Military, Police and News Media. But they don’t have complete control yet and Erdogan knows it. He feels vulnerable and he might well be.
Erdogan is the real thing when it comes to Islamism. This is why he has succeeded. When he was elected Mayor of Constantinople in 1994 (this is when I started following Turkish politics closely) he vowed to enter the Greek Patriarchate by the gates where Patriarch Gregory V was hanged in 1821 and which has never been opened since. His declaration was the “gate will be opened for me”. His mentor Necmettin Erbekan was toppled by the military in 1997 and Erdogan himself was imprisoned in 1998 for writing a pro Islamic poem. With his mentor out of the way and him out of prison he started a third political party after the first two were banned. Unlike the others this one was toned down and passed off as a center-right party. In a smart move, he invited secular people into the party to keep the military off his back. With the passing of time, he got rid of these people and the whole Islamic thing came back once he purged the military with the help of an alternative Islamic movement, the Gulenists. The guy is definitely an Islamist. I grant you that he is very corrupt but I think he is very much a believer. His previous rhetoric on Hagia Sophia was intent to pacify suspicions.
You may be right. It’s hard to tell in Turkey, even the so-called ‘secularist nationalists’ are praising the conversion of Hagia-Sophia into a Mosque. In Turkey the envelope of Islamism and Nationalism often coincide on street-issues. It’s hard to get away from the influence of Islam on Turkish politics, because the nationalists have effectively marginalized all ethnic Christian minority groups in the public sphere. Even the Kurds who are Moslem have been marginalized by the Islamic ‘White’ Turks. The bottom line is in Turkey Islamism and Nationalism often wear the same hat. They use much of the same rhetoric to consolidate their bases. For Hellenes, it doesn’t make much difference if a Turkish nationalist or Islamist is in power-the danger will be the same. Erdogan actually is preferable, because he comes across as an intolerant, uneducated bigot whereas the nationalists couch their intolerance, hatred and bigotry in terms more acceptable to west.
I saw this article today in the english version of the Turkish newspaper Hurriyet. Ordinarily I would suspect the damage to be merely the work of vandals, but with the recent religious intolerance displayed by the Turkish regime I have to wonder if it’s an AKP political statement. Remember the Taliban destroying Buddhist monuments in Afghanistan? Every historical reminder of the Hellenic influence in Anatolia is likely to be put at risk with Tayyip Erdogan as President of Turkey. He doesn’t care, he hates Christianity and Hellenism: https://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/2-000-year-old-hercules-relief-damaged-156765
Here is a link from a Turk who suggests that Hagia Sophia is not a political distraction but a symbol for a Presidential dictatorship
https://ahvalnews.com/recep-tayyip-erdogan/hagia-sophia-conversion-meant-be-symbol-presidential-dictatorship-academic