Historical order of Turkish President Ardoan
Turkish President Rechep Tayyip Ardoan has ordered the historic Hagia Sophia Museum of Istanbul to be converted into a mosque again.
Earlier on Friday, a Turkish court had cleared the way to convert the Hagia Sophia Museum into a mosque. The court said in its decision that the Hagia Sophia would no longer be a museum and canceled the 1934 cabinet decision.
This 1500-year-old UNESCO World Heritage was originally a church before the mosque was built and a museum was built in the 1930s. Turkish President Rechep Tayyip Ardoan promised to make it a mosque in elections last year.
Church, museum or mosque, important decision on Turkish Islamic politics
It has been decided to build a mosque, then a museum, and then a thousand and a half year old church.
Hagia Sophia of Turkey has been one of the largest churches in the world. It was built in the sixth century by the dictates of the Byzantine emperor Justinian.
Now this has been converted into a mosque again.
It comes in the list of World Heritage of UNESCO, a cultural affairs organization of the United Nations. This church was converted into a mosque when the Osmania Sultanate occupied the city of Qustuntunia (later renamed Istanbul) in 1453.
This Greek-style church built in Istanbul is considered a unique piece of architecture that has left its mark on the design of large buildings around the world.
After the defeat of Turkey in the First World War and then the elimination of the Osmania Sultanate there came the rule of Mustafa Kamal Pasha. In his rule, in 1934, it was decided to make this mosque (originally Hagia Sophia Church) as a museum.
In the modern era, Turkish Islamist political parties have been demanding to make it a mosque for a long time, while secular parties have been opposing the construction of the old church as a mosque. There have also been international reactions on this matter, which are divided on religious and secular grounds.
Greece has opposed this decision and said that this church is the center of faith of millions of people who believe in Orthodox Christianity. The Minister of Cultural Affairs of Greece has called it ‘the politics of taking political advantage by inciting religious sentiments’.
The UNESCO Deputy Chief has said in an interview to the Greek newspaper that the decision of the future of this church should be on a large scale in which the international fraternity should also be heard. This representative of the United Nations says that a letter was written to Turkey about this but he did not give any reply.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said that the change in the condition of this building will not be right because ‘it has been acting as a bridge between different religious beliefs.
What is history?
The historic domed building is on the western bank of the Bosphorus River in Istanbul, the Bosphorus is the river that borders Asia and Europe, the east of this river is Asia and the west is Europe.
Emperor Justinian ordered the construction of a grand church in 532 AD, in those days Istanbul was known as Constantinople or Qustuntunia, the capital of the Byzantine Empire, also known as the Roman Empire of the East.
Construction materials and engineers were employed from far and wide to build this magnificent building.
It is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Turkey.
This church was completed in five years and was completed in 537, it became an important center for those who believed in Orthodox Christianity, it also became a symbol of the strength of the Byzantine Empire, important ceremonies like coronation continued in this church.
Hagia Sophia, which means ‘holy conscience’, has been the headquarters of the Eastern Orthodox Church for nearly 900 years.
But the dispute about it is not only among Muslims and Christians, it was severely destroyed by European Christian attackers in the 13th century and made it to the Catholic Church for some time.
In 1453, Sultan Mehmed II of the Ottoman Empire, who embraced Islam, captured Qustuntunia, changed its name to Istanbul, thus ending the Byzantine Empire forever.
Sultan Mehmed ordered that the Hagia Sophia be repaired and converted into a mosque. In this, the Sultan himself joined the prayer of the first Jume. The Ottoman Empire is also known as Sultanate-e-Osmania.
Islamic architects broke most of the marks of Ishayat or put a layer of plaster over them. Earlier it was just a dome building but six Islamic style minarets were also erected outside it.
Hagia Sophia is said to be the inspiration for the design of many famous buildings of the world, including the famous blue mosque of Turkey, built in the 17th century.
The Ottoman Empire suffered a severe defeat in the First World War, the empire was divided into several pieces by the conquerors. The current Turkey stands on the foundation of the same demolished Ottoman Empire.
Mustafa Kamal Pasha, called the creator of modern Turkey, declared the country as secular and in this context changed the Hagia Sophia from mosque to museum.
Since it was opened to the general public in 1935, it has been one of the major tourist destinations in the world.
Due to the history of nearly one and a half thousand years, Turkey has great importance not only for the people outside it, especially for the Christians of Greece and Muslims around the world.
There have been frequent demonstrations in Turkey against the 1934 law under which the Hagia Sophia is prohibited from offering Namaz or any other religious event. President Erdoआनan has been supportive of these Islamic sentiments and has been calling the decision to make Hagia Sophia a museum as a historic mistake, and he has been continuously trying to make it a mosque again.
