By Robert Jones
This is how the minds of Islamic supremacists seem to
work: If you want churches to remain churches, it means you are "disturbed
by the Koran or Islamic prayers," and you disrespect or "insult"
Islam. According to Islamic scriptures, those who "insult" Islam or
its prophet Muhammad are to be executed.
• So if one
wants to survive under Islamic rule, one has to submit to Islam and accept
one's own inferior status. There is apparently no place for diversity or
civilized, equal coexistence of Muslims and non-Muslims in Islamic nations.
• "I
can only think of one reason [to turn Hagia Sophia into a mosque]. As a shout
of Islamic triumphalism. What a mistake that would be. Christians would rightly
consider it an intentional insult. The international community would see it as
an open rejection of its diversity agenda. Moreover, I think that a relatively
secular Turkey acting so radically would demonstrate to the world that despite
moderate Muslims' many assurances to the contrary, contemporary Islam is
intolerant in outlook, belligerent toward non-believers, and dangerously
hegemonist in its intentions." — Wesley J. Smith, author.
• The West
did not protect Anatolian Christians during the 1914-1923 genocide. It does not
seem as if the West will protect Europe against what seems to be the current
bloodless Muslim invasion, either.
The process of converting the historic Hagia Sophia
church-then-museum in Istanbul into a mosque, in the works for the past three
years, now seems to have been finalized.
In 2013, the deputy prime minister of Turkey Bulent Arinc
at the time, while speaking to reporters, signaled that Hagia Sophia Museum
would be used as a mosque.
"We currently stand next to the Hagia Sophia Mosque
... we are looking at a sad Hagia Sophia, but hopefully we will see it smiling
again soon," Arinc said during the opening ceremony of a new Carpet
Museum, located next to the ancient Hagia Sophia, the Turkish newspaper
Hurriyet had reported.
The pro-government Turkish newspaper Sabah ran a story on
June 1, 2016 entitled, "Historic Moments at Hagia Sophia. The longing is
about to be over!... The mosque of Hagia Sophia will witness historic moments
in the month of Ramadan..."
The Greek Foreign Ministry reacted with a written
statement: "Obsessions, verging on bigotry, with Muslim rituals in a
monument of world cultural heritage are incomprehensible and reveal a lack of
respect for and connection with reality." The ministry added that the
practice contradicted the values of modern, democratic and secular societies.
The Turkish Foreign Ministry Spokesperson, Tanju Bilgic,
responded in a written statement on June 8:
"The Greek Foreign Ministry's statement with regards
to TRT Diyanet TV's suhur program entitled 'Hagia Sophia at the time of
abundance,' which will be broadcast throughout the month of Ramadan, is
unacceptable".
Pro-government Turkish media interpreted the criticism of
the Greek ministry of foreign ministry as follows: "They have been
disturbed by the reciting of the Koran at Hagia Sophia."
This is how the minds of Islamic supremacists seem to
work: If you want churches to remain churches, it means you are "disturbed
by the Koran or Islamic prayers", and in so doing, you disrespect or
"insult" Islam -- and according to Islamic scriptures, those who
"insult" Islam or its prophet Muhammad are to be executed.
So if one wants to survive under Islamic rule, one has to
submit to Islam and accept one's own inferior status. There is apparently no
place for diversity or civilized, equal coexistence of Muslims and non-Muslims
in Islamic nations.
In the meantime, the Hellenic American Leadership Council
has begun a campaign to ask the United States Commission on International
Religious Freedom (USCIRF) to issue a statement against the creeping conversion
of Hagia Sophia into a mosque, writing:
In 2014, USCIRF condemned attempts by Turkey's parliament
to change the status of Hagia Sophia from a museum to a mosque. In its
statement at the time, USCIRF said "...opening Hagia Sophia as a mosque
would clearly be a divisive and provocative move. It would send the message
that the current government sees the sensitivities of Turkey's religious
minority communities, particularly its ancient Christian community, as being of
little or no consequence."
Instead of following USCIRF's recommendations, Turkey
ignores them, apparently now choosing a path of "creeping conversion"
to alter the status of this historic site.
However, all of the criticisms, calls and campaigns do
not seem to have worked. A few months after a decision by Turkish authorities
to allow readings from the Koran to be broadcast from Hagia Sophia in Istanbul,
Turkey has now decided to appoint a permanent imam for the site.
According to the state-funded Anadolu News Agency,
Turkey's Directorate for Religious Affairs (Diyanet), and the mufti of the
Fatih district, have agreed to assign a permanent imam who will lead five daily
Islamic prayers at the Hagia Sophia, instead of the current two.
The Hagia Sophia in Istanbul was the grandest cathedral
in the Christian world, until it was
captured and converted to a mosque by the Muslim Ottoman
Turks in 1453. The Turkish
Republic converted the Hagia Sophia to a museum in 1935,
and Turkey's current Islamist
government is now converting it into a mosque. (Image
source: Antoine Taveneaux/Wikimedia Commons)
According to the 2015 statistics of Diyanet, there are
3317 mosques in Istanbul and 86,762 in Turkey. There is no shortage of mosques
in the country. So why is the Turkish government converting Hagia Sophia into a
mosque?
"I can only think of one reason," writes the
author Wesley J. Smith.
"As a shout of Islamic triumphalism. What a mistake
that would be. Christians would rightly consider it an intentional insult. The
international community would see it as an open rejection of its diversity
agenda. Moreover, I think that a relatively secular Turkey acting so radically
would demonstrate to the world that despite moderate Muslims' many assurances
to the contrary, contemporary Islam is intolerant in outlook, belligerent
toward non-believers, and dangerously hegemonist in its intentions."
Constantinople
Constantinople, now termed Istanbul, was reinaugurated by
Roman Emperor Constantine I (324-337).
"Constantine," writes the scholar Nikolaos
Provatas, "chose as the location of his new capital the ancient Greek city
of Byzantion. In 324 Constantine transformed Byzantion into 'The New Rome' or
'Constantinopolis', the City of Constantine. The people often referred to it
simply as 'The City' or, in Greek, 'Hi Polis'.
"Christianity was also to form the strongest
cohesive glue that bound the peoples of the Eastern Roman Empire, regardless of
their language and ethnic origin. To the inhabitants of the Eastern Roman
Empire, the words 'Romaios' -Roman- and 'Christian' were often
synonymous."
The Church of the Holy Wisdom, known as Hagia Sophia,
designed to be the major basilica of the Byzantine Empire and a masterpiece of
Byzantine architecture, was built in the city by Justinian I in 532-537 CE.
When Constantinople was invaded and captured by the
Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II in a bloody military campaign in 1453, it brought an
end to the Byzantine Empire.
Steven Runciman, in his book, The Fall of Constantinople
1453, writes that congregants and refugees became spoils -- to enslaved,
violated or murdered. The church was desecrated and plundered, the infirm and
elderly were slaughtered, women and girls were raped and the rest sold into
slavery.
Mehmed II then converted Hagia Sophia church into a
mosque.
The name Constantinople was changed to
"Istanbul" in 1930 by republican Turkey, and Hagia Sophia converted
to a museum in 1935.
Today, there is no sizeable Christian community in Turkey
to oppose the ongoing oppression and tyranny. From the great Christian
Byzantine Empire, now less than 0.2% of Turkey's 80-million population is
Christian.
This is the result of the genocide of Greek Christians by
Ottoman Turks from 1913-1923 -- the annihilation of the majority of Greek
Christians in Constantinople and Anatolia, in what was the heart of Christendom
before the Islamic invasion.
"The decision for the genocide against Greeks,"
wrote the scholar Theofanis Malkidis, "was taken by the Young Turks
(Cemal, Enver and Talat pasha) in 1911, was put into practice during the World
War I and was completed by Mustafa Kemal (1919 – 1923).
"The persecutions were originally appeared in the
form of cases of violence, destruction, deportations and exiles. Soon though,
they became better organized and extensive and turned massively against the
Greeks (and against the Armenians)."
As a result of centuries-long campaigns of violent jihad
and cultural jihad, the Christians of Anatolia and Constantinople were
exterminated. The West did not protect Anatolian Christians during the
1914-1923 genocide. It does not seem as if the West will protect Europe against
what seems to be the current bloodless Muslim invasion, either.
Today, other remaining churches in Turkey are also
targeted and converted to mosques. And the West is still silent, submissive and
bowing to jihadists for its own ill-informed and misguided agenda.
Robert Jones, an expert on Turkey, is currently based in
the UK.
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