Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan formally opened a former Byzantine church in Istanbul as a mosque on Monday, four years after his government had designated it a Muslim house of prayer, despite criticism from neighboring Greece.
Turkey formally converted The Church of St.
Saviour in Chora, known as Kariye in Turkish, into a mosque in 2020, soon after it similarly turned Istanbul’s landmark Haghia Sophia into a Muslim house of prayer.
Both conversions drew praise from Muslim faithful but criticism from Greece and other countries who had urged Turkey to protect the important Byzantine-era monuments.
Both are listed as U.N. World Heritage Sites.
The structure served as a mosque during Ottoman rule before being transformed into a museum in 1945.
Greece had criticized the Turkish government’s decision to turn it back into a mosque, accusing Ankara of “insulting the character” of another World Heritage Site.
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@ISIDEWITH2yrs2Y
Can the conversion of a historical site from one religious purpose to another be seen as an act of inclusion, or is it more divisive?
@9M8V87R2yrs2Y
If ya want a mosque, build a new one, or better yet, go somewhere there is a mosque. Simple as.
@ISIDEWITH2yrs2Y
How would you feel if a historical site important to your culture was repurposed for a different religion?
@9M8NS922yrs2Y
if the building is not used, fine but if it's of historical, national or architectural importance, then no
@ISIDEWITH2yrs2Y
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