Zeeshan Haider
The conversion of the landmark Hagia Sophia museum into a mosque may please the populist President Tayyip Erdogan’s constituency at home but might hurt ties with the West and provide much-needed fuel to the Islamophobic lobbies to fire up their anti-Islam campaign.
Erdogan had long expressed his desire to strip the Hagia Sophia museum status of the iconic sixth-century Byzantine site and a recent Turkish court decision gave an excuse to him to turn his word into action.
Built as a cathedral in the Christian Byzantine Empire some fifteen centuries ago, the Hagia Sophia – known as Ayasofya in Turkish — was converted into a mosque during the Ottoman rule in 1453. At the time the city was also named as Istanbul.
In 1934, the secular Turkish government founded by Kemal Attaturk converted it into a museum but the Turkish high court set aside that decision of the then Council of Ministers saying that in property deeds Hagia Sophia was declared a m osque, thus paving the way for Erdogan to fulfill his desire.
In order to pacify those opposing his decision, the Turkish leader maintained that the UNESCO’s World Heritage site would remain open for people of all shades and faiths, including Muslims and Christians as well as for tourists.
However, Christian leaders as well as establishments from all over the world ranging from the spiritual leader of the Orthodox Christians in Istanbul to the Pope Francis and from the Geneva-based World Council of Churches to the Russian Orthodox Church denounced the controversial decision.
The UNESCO has also said it would review the monument’s status in the wake of Erdogan’s decision.
What prompted Erdogan to take the decision which has the potential to add more strain to Turkey’s often troubled ties with the West, particularly Europe?
Though Turkey partly lies in Europe and has long cherished to be part of the European Union but its inclusion has been blocked under a variety of pretexts.
Under Erdogan, such prospect has further dimmed because of his efforts to shun Turkey’s secular credentials set by Attaturk and re-embrace Turkey’s pre-Attaturk glory under the Ottoman rule.
In 2018, Turkey locked in a diplomatic spat with the Netherlands after Dutch government pushed a bill through the parliament that proposed recognition of Armenians’ killings by Ottoman Turks in 1915 as “genocide”.
The new status of Hagia Sophia is likely to rekindle those tensions with Europe.
The European Union has not yet commented on Erdogan’s move but its member, Greece — Turkey’s traditional rival which sees itself as heir of Greek-speaking Byzantines of Constantinople — is preparing a diplomatic push for the bloc to sanction Ankara for changing Hagia Sophia status.
Erdogan’s move could also play into the hands of West’s supremacist and extremist groups and individuals who could whip up anti-Muslim sentiments as part of their wider anti-immigrants campaign across the region.
The Australian supremacist, Brenton Tarrant, who killed 51 people in an attack on two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, last year had published an online manifesto vowing to rid Hagia Sophia of its minarets.
Erdogan himself has used that terrorist attack to launch a mass public campaign at home and abroad against growing Islamophobic tendencies in the West.
Erdogan even played the footage of the attack in his public rallies in Turkey to bring home the dangers of growing Islamophobia to his countrymen.
He has also been at the forefront of the world leaders to urge the West, particularly Europe, to rein in growing Islamophobia in their backyard.
On the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York last year, he joined hands with Prime Minister Imran Khan and Malaysian leader Mahathir Mohammad to launch an English-language television channel as part of efforts to counter anti-Muslim tendencies in the West.
His critics as well as proponents of secularism in Turkey, however, say the shrewd politician has been exploiting religion to shore up support for his conservative Justice and Development Party to offset domestic pressure in the wake of a looming economic crisis exacerbated by Covid-19 pandemic.
Moreover, his allegiance to the Ottoman glory and vocal espousing of Muslim causes, they say, is meant to be recognized as a leader of the Islamic world.
Irrespective of the consequences of the change in the status of Hagia Sophia on Turkey’s relations with Europe, the controversial decision could hurt Erdogan’s own as well as of the Muslims’ stance on the Babri mosque demolished by Hindu zealots to build temple on its site.
In the wake of rising waves of religious extremism, the world leaders need to avoid the kind of populism that could allow far-right and radical forces to have an axe to grind.
The writer is a senior journalist based in Islamabad
