Has the mosque-church war started?

About a month ago, I wrote that President Erdoğan would resolve this case in court. It becomes clear from an article by Işık Kansu from Cumhuriyet on July 12, the infrastructure for this case has been in place for a long time in court reviewing cases in public administration, and judges with strong religious sentiments were appointed there.

The opposition İYİ Party proposed a solution to the case by passing a law in Parliament, and it was not difficult to predict the court's decision when the majority AKP rejected and the minority partner MHP remained neutral.

When Fatih Sultan Mehmet conquered Istanbul in 1453, Hagia Sophia was transformed from a church into a mosque. During the British occupation of Istanbul from March 1920 to October 1923, the status of a church was not restored. Hagia Sophia, which remained a mosque for the first 11 years of the Turkish Republic, was removed from being a place of worship in November 1934 by the founder of the Republic, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, and transformed into a museum.

First religious and then nationalist politics had always used the slogan, "We will transform Hagia Sophia into a mosque", to their advantage but had not done so. The reason is very simple. We did not need to be astrologers to see that the AKP would use the "transforming Hagia Sophia into a mosque" card in its trunk when describing Ekrem İmamoğlu’s victory in the repeat municipal elections in Istanbul on June 23, 2019, as "the second major tectonic fault in political Islam".

After that, the AKP needed this step right now, at least in order to stop the ever-declining rating curve, and it would be against the nature of Islamist policy not to take this step. In our article a month ago, we emphasized that it would not matter to Mr. Erdoğan whether the court accepted or rejected this request because both results would be Erdoğan’s victory.

In other words, if the court rejected the demand to "transform Hagia Sophia into a mosque", perhaps, it would do more good for the ratings of Mr. Erdoğan and the AKP. For today, this is also not bad, no one should doubt that the AKP and Erdogan's ratings will be on the rise until the first Friday prayer on July 24 in a place that has been transformed into a mosque again. What about after that?

After all, a few years ago, President Erdoğan, in a very pragmatic analysis of the risks posed by the transformation of Hagia Sophia into a mosque, said: “Do those who want the opening of Hagia Sophia ever think about the fate of our mosques abroad? As a political leader, I have not lost my direction to the extent to be deceived.” A few months ago, he was angry with a citizen who asked the same question and scolded: “You are talking about the Hagia Sophia being filled with people, while the Sultanahmet on the other side is not full of people. Don't get involved in these games, they are a trap,”

In my opinion, when analyzing President Erdoğan’s decision to "transform Hagia Sophia back into a mosque", instead of asking a question - "So what happened?", it is necessary to ask a logical question - "So why did it happen so fast?". Because the essence of the secret behind this decision lies in its rush. A close friend, Trump, warned, a warning came from Russia, a close friend until yesterday, and Mr. Erdoğan’s position until the recent past was clear. But why was it decided so quickly to "transform Hagia Sophia back into a mosque"?

The first reason is that Turkey is at war on at least two fronts (Syria and Libya) against the background of the country's deteriorating economic situation. At the same time, it is impossible to find a solution for the declining rating of the 18-year-old ruling party. An urgent ideological decision was needed. If it were anything other than a "new conquest", it would not be a remedy. At a time when the Central Bank is standing on its own two feet with Qatar's savings, what would be the solution to close a gap that is not in line with the "Muslim brothers" ideology? What other factors can stand behind the scenes of the fact that an Islamist politician, who thought about the "fate of mosques abroad", suddenly forgot the "fates" and had a 15-century-old church building, which had been used as a museum until July 10, transformed back into a mosque, besides "money, money, money", as Hazrat Ashraf said in Jalil Mammadguluzadeh's tragicomedy "Meeting of Mads"? Just due to the economic factor, he did not shy away from war with Christendom. Even the risk of closure of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, which is as sacred to Turkish Muslims as the Kaaba, by Israel has been forgotten.

Will there be direct sanctions for this?

There will not be today or tomorrow. However, it should not be forgotten that not only Muslims and Mr. Erdoğan but also all the powerful leaders in the world make extensive use of the religious factor.

Trump, and Putin, and Netanyahu…

Mayis Alizade