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The Times (London)
April 17, 2015 Friday
Turkish church may become mosque in row with Vatican
by Tom Coghlan
The ancient cathedral of Hagia Sophia in Istanbul could be reopened as
a mosque after controversial remarks by the Pope on the century-old
massacres of Armenians, a senior government cleric said yesterday.
The Grand Mufti of Ankara, Professor Mefail Hizli, warned of
repercussions from remarks on Sunday by Francis, who has become the
first pope to label the killings of Ottoman Armenians in 1915 a
"genocide".
"Frankly, I believe that the Pope's remarks will only accelerate the
process for Hagia Sophia to be reopened for [Muslim] worship,"
Professor Hizli said in a written statement.
He added that the Pope's coments were a "modern reflection of the
crusader wars launched in these lands for centuries", adding that
Turkey's position as a "standard bearer" for the Muslim world invited
attack from outsiders. The Pope's words, days before the April 24
centenary of the first killings of what became the Armenian genocide,
caused fury in Turkey. Ankara withdrew its ambassador to the Vatican
and President Erdogan responded: "The stain of genocide on our nation
is out of the question."
The remarks from the mufti, a government employee, raised speculation
in the Turkish press that the authorities plan to convert the world
famous museum of Hagia Sophia to a mosque. Analysts said that the
Turkish reaction reflected both the sensitivity over the Armenian
genocide issue, and posturing from the nationalist Islamist government
before forthcoming elections. Turkey has always rejected claims that
the killings of about 1.5 million Christian Armenians amounted to a
government policy of extermination. It has said they were instead a
product of the collapse of the Ottoman Empire.
The Turkish government said yesterday that a senior Turkish-Armenian
adviser to the Turkish prime minister had "retired on grounds of age",
days after he too referred to an "Armenian genocide". Etyen Mahçupyan,
65, said that the Pope's comments had released a "100-year-old
psychological burden" for the country's small but still prominent
Turkish-Armenian community. He insisted that his retirement was age
related.
Unlike many European and South American states, the US government has
so far withheld from using the term genocide. The European parliament
voted on Wednesday to use the term "genocide" to describe the Armenian
massacres. Draft legislation is also before Congress, backed by the
powerful Armenian diaspora in the United States.
A campaign to open Hagia Sophia as a mosque has won support among
Turkish Islamists in recent years. The original church was founded in
AD360 by the Byzantines and ceased to be a Christian place of worship
after the Ottoman invasion of 1453. It was then a mosque until 1931,
when the secular Turkish government reopened it as a museum.
April 17, 2015 Friday
Turkish church may become mosque in row with Vatican
by Tom Coghlan
The ancient cathedral of Hagia Sophia in Istanbul could be reopened as
a mosque after controversial remarks by the Pope on the century-old
massacres of Armenians, a senior government cleric said yesterday.
The Grand Mufti of Ankara, Professor Mefail Hizli, warned of
repercussions from remarks on Sunday by Francis, who has become the
first pope to label the killings of Ottoman Armenians in 1915 a
"genocide".
"Frankly, I believe that the Pope's remarks will only accelerate the
process for Hagia Sophia to be reopened for [Muslim] worship,"
Professor Hizli said in a written statement.
He added that the Pope's coments were a "modern reflection of the
crusader wars launched in these lands for centuries", adding that
Turkey's position as a "standard bearer" for the Muslim world invited
attack from outsiders. The Pope's words, days before the April 24
centenary of the first killings of what became the Armenian genocide,
caused fury in Turkey. Ankara withdrew its ambassador to the Vatican
and President Erdogan responded: "The stain of genocide on our nation
is out of the question."
The remarks from the mufti, a government employee, raised speculation
in the Turkish press that the authorities plan to convert the world
famous museum of Hagia Sophia to a mosque. Analysts said that the
Turkish reaction reflected both the sensitivity over the Armenian
genocide issue, and posturing from the nationalist Islamist government
before forthcoming elections. Turkey has always rejected claims that
the killings of about 1.5 million Christian Armenians amounted to a
government policy of extermination. It has said they were instead a
product of the collapse of the Ottoman Empire.
The Turkish government said yesterday that a senior Turkish-Armenian
adviser to the Turkish prime minister had "retired on grounds of age",
days after he too referred to an "Armenian genocide". Etyen Mahçupyan,
65, said that the Pope's comments had released a "100-year-old
psychological burden" for the country's small but still prominent
Turkish-Armenian community. He insisted that his retirement was age
related.
Unlike many European and South American states, the US government has
so far withheld from using the term genocide. The European parliament
voted on Wednesday to use the term "genocide" to describe the Armenian
massacres. Draft legislation is also before Congress, backed by the
powerful Armenian diaspora in the United States.
A campaign to open Hagia Sophia as a mosque has won support among
Turkish Islamists in recent years. The original church was founded in
AD360 by the Byzantines and ceased to be a Christian place of worship
after the Ottoman invasion of 1453. It was then a mosque until 1931,
when the secular Turkish government reopened it as a museum.