the Council complains that The Turkish president Erdogan that "we have reversed this positive sign of the opening of the Turkey to make it a sign of exclusion and division".
The world Council of Churches, which brings together about 350 christian churches, including protestant and orthodox, expressed on Saturday its "sorrow and consternation" after the decision of the Turkish authorities to transform the former basilica of the hagia Sophia Istanbul museum into a mosque.
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The acting secretary general of the Council, professor Ioan Sauca, has made this reaction in a letter to Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, published on the website of the Geneva-based organization and that brings together about 500 million believers. The catholic Church does not belong to it, but is working with the Council on certain folders.
Your support is essential. Subscribe for $ 1 support UsTurkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, for his part, rubbished this Saturday, the international condemnations of the transformation of the hagia Sophia of Istanbul into a mosque, arguing that it fell within the "sovereign rights" of his country. "Those that do are stumbling against islamophobia in their own countries (...) attack the will of the Turkey to use its sovereign rights," said Erdogan during a ceremony in the visio-conference. "We have taken this decision not on what others say but in relation to our rights, as we have done in Syria, Libya and elsewhere," he added.
From 1934 - date of the transformation of the temple into a museum - hagia Sophia "has been a place of openness, meetings, and inspiration to people of all nations and all religions," writes Ioan Sauca, a member of the Romanian orthodox Church, to Erdogan. It was a nice proof of "the commitment of Turkey to secularism" and his "desire to leave behind the conflicts of the past," he continued.
"Renewal divisions between the religious communities"
It accuses Erdogan of having "reversed the positive sign of the opening of the Turkey to make it a sign of exclusion and division". In addition, this decision runs the risk of encouraging "the ambitions of other groups, elsewhere, that seek to change the status quo and promote the renewal of divisions between religious communities", he warns.
The Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced on Friday that the ex-byzantine basilica of ancient Constantinople would be open to muslim prayers as a mosque on Friday, 24 July, while remaining open to visitors. Converted into a mosque after the taking of Constantinople by the Ottomans in 1453, it was converted into a museum by the leader of the young Turkish Republic, Mustafa Kemal, anxious to "offer to humanity."
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Turkey : why is the transformation of hagia Sophia into a mosque creates tensions in Turkey : a screed of lead's threat to shoot down on social networks in Turkey confirms the existence of a "case" of espionage with the FranceThis decision of president Erdoğan has led to convictions and regrets in Greece, France, Russia, United states but also to Unesco, which had declared the hagia Sophia a world heritage.
Date Of Update: 11 July 2020, 15:58
