What Does Hagia Sophia’s Return as A Mosque Mean to Secularism in Turkey
By Neha Banka
July 12,
2020
On Friday,
Turkey’s highest court allowed for the conversion of the nearly 1,500 year-old
Hagia Sophia from a museum into a mosque. The centuries-old structure, listed
as a UNESCO World Heritage site, was originally a cathedral in the Byzantine
empire before it was turned into a mosque in 1453, when Constantinople fell to
Sultan Mehmet II’s Ottoman forces. In the 1930s, however, Mustafa Kemal
Ataturk, the founder of the Republic of Turkey, shut down the mosque and turned
it into a museum in an attempt to make the country more secular.
A view of the Byzantine-era Hagia Sophia, an UNESCO World Heritage site
and one of Istanbul’s main tourist attractions in the historic Sultanahmet
district of Istanbul, Friday, July 10, 2020.
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Turkey’s
Council of State had declared in its ruling that the conversion of the Hagia
Sophia from a mosque into the museum by the country’s founder was illegal. An
hour after the court’s verdict was announced, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip
Erdogan issued an order stating the Hagia Sophia was open to Muslim worship.
The order read: “The decision was taken to hand over the management of the
Ayasofya Mosque…..to the Religious Affairs Directorate and open it for worship.”
Recep
Tayyip Erdoğan
@RTErdogan
Jul
10
Hayırlıolsun.
7:31 PM · Jul 10, 2020
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On Friday,
the Council of State had unanimously cancelled a 1934 cabinet decision
concerning the status of the monument and stated that the Hagia Sophia had been
registered as a mosque in its property deeds.
Shortly
after the court order, Hagia Sophia’s verified social media pages that had
referred to the structure as a “museum” were taken down. The change in status
of the Hagia Sophia comes after repeated warnings from the international
community, including Unesco, to ensure that Turkey did not proceed with these
plans.
What Was
the Reaction to The Change inHagia Sophia’s Status?
Local news
reports broadcast visuals of people in Istanbul assembling outside the Hagia
Sophia after the court announced its decision, in celebration of the verdict.
Weeks before the verdict, the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew in Istanbul, the
spiritual head of Orthodox Christians, had said that converting the Hagia
Sophia into a mosque would “fracture” the East and the West.
Following
the verdict, Vladimir Legoida, spokesperson for the Russian Orthodox Church
stated: “The concern of millions of Christians has not been heard…. Today’s
court ruling shows that all calls for the need for extreme delicacy in this
matter were ignored.”
Greece’s
Foreign Ministry had previously issued a strong statement saying this
conversion was a violation of UNESCO’s ‘Convention Concerning the Protection of
the World Cultural and Natural Heritage’ where a “designated a museum of world
cultural heritage” was “being used to promote other purposes”.
Following
the verdict, Greece’s culture minister Lina Mendoni said the ruling “absolutely
confirms that there is no independent justice” in Turkey and said the move was
an “open provocation to the civilised world”. “The nationalism displayed by
President Erdogan… takes his country back six centuries,” Mendoni added. Cyprus
condemned the ruling and the European Union said it was “regrettable”.
Muslims offer their evening prayers outside the Byzantine-era Hagia
Sophia. ( AP Photo)
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The US
State Department said it was “disappointed” by the move and indicated that it
would observe Turkey’s plans for the Hagia Sophia “to ensure it remains
accessible without impediment for all.”
Turkey
found support in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), a territory
recognised only by the Turkish government. Prime Minister Ersi Tatar said:
“Hagia Sophia has been Turkish, a mosque and a world heritage since 1453. The
decision to use it as a mosque, at the same time to be visited as a museum, is
sound and it is pleasing.”
Erdogan had
faced little opposition to these plans within Turkey, researchers say, because
religious minorities had not wished to be involved in what is seen as a
polarising subject. Following the verdict, their stance has mostly remained the
same, and few in Turkey have publicly denounced the change in the monument’s
status.
What
Does This Mean for The Hagia Sophia?
Erdogan
stated that the Hagia Sophia would open as a mosque after 85 years on July 24
with Friday prayers. According to local news reports in Turkey, the entrance
fee that had been put in place when the monument was a museum will be removed,
making it free for all visitors. Despite the change in status, the Hagia Sophia
will continue to be open to foreign and local tourists. In a televised address
to the country, Erdogan said the conversion would require six months to
complete. Throughout his speech, observers noted that the president made no
mention of Ataturk, the founder of the Turkish republic, perhaps in a
deliberate move to remove that association from the Hagia Sophia.
There is no
clarity on whether the conversion of the Hagia Sophia will impact the Byzantine
artwork and mosaics inside the monument. In 1453, when Constantinople fell to
Sultan Mehmet II’s Ottoman forces, the Hagia Sophia was ransacked by the
invading Ottomans and turned into a mosque shortly after. The structure of the
Hagia Sophia was then subjected to several interior and exterior changes where
Orthodox symbols were removed or plastered upon and minarets were added to the
exterior of the structure. Many of these Byzantine symbols can still be seen
today, and many social media users expressed concern over the future of the
remaining mosaics and artwork once the mosque reopens.
A
woman visits the Byzantine-era Hagia Sophia. (AP Photo)
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There is
also no clarity on whether the monument will continue to hold its UNESCO
heritage status following its conversion into a mosque or whether the
international organisation will withdraw its designation. Following the ruling,
the organisation released a statement saying: “UNESCO calls on the Turkish
authorities to open a dialog without delay in order to avoid a step back from
the universal value of this exceptional heritage whose preservation will be
reviewed by the World Heritage Committee in its next session.”
It is also
not clear whether the ruling in the case of the Hagia Sophia will be used to
convert other public places that Ataturk converted into museums, for instance,
the Topkapı Palace in Istanbul, the former seat of the Ottoman Empire.
What
Does This Mean for Secularism inTurkey?
In an
interview shortly after the verdict, Nobel prize-winning author Orhan Pamuk
told the BBC: “There are millions of secular Turks like me who are crying
against this but their voices are not heard…To convert it back to a mosque is
to say to the rest of the world unfortunately we are not secular anymore.”
Researchers
believe that Erdogan has systematically eroded the secular ideals of Mustafa
Kemal Ataturk on which the modern Turkish republic was founded. President Recep
Tayyip Erdogan and his AK Party’s dominance over Turkey’s political sphere for
close to two decades has slowly pushed it from a constitutionally secular
country to a more religious and conservative nation. On the surface, the AK
Party has claimed to be secular but as witnessed in the case of the Hagia
Sophia, it appears that the party will not hesitate to alter Ataturk’s secular
legacy to achieve its own political goals.
Changes to Istanbul's Hagia Sophia could trigger heritage review –
UNESCO FILE PHOTO: People visit the Hagia Sophia or Ayasofya, a UNESCO World
Heritage Site which was a Byzantine cathedral before it was converted into a
mosque and currently a museum, in Istanbul, Turkey, July 2, 2020. REUTERS/Murad
Sezer/File Photo
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Observers
believe that Erdogan’s plans for the conversion of the Hagia Sophia were
closely connected with his attempts to score political points and to drum up
political support, particularly among conservatives, that he has seen
diminishing following his loss in Istanbul’s municipal elections in 2019.
However,
research on secularism in Turkey over the past two years shows that many in the
country, particularly younger citizens, are less religious, despite the
government’s attempts to promote its version of prescribed religious conduct.
Erdogan had once stated that he had wished to create “a pious generation”. Analysts
believe that young Turks are not interested in this brand of religion and have
been actively pushing against it.
Original
Headline: Why Hagia Sophia’s return as
mosque puts Turkey’s secular credentials on a prayer
Source: The Indian Express
URL: https://www.newageislam.com/islam-pluralism/hagia-sophias-return-mosque-mean/d/122356
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