Erdogan and the Hagia Sophia: Will He – Or Won’t He?
Facing ever shakier voter support, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan may finally be ready to convert the Hagia Sophia into a mosque.
Ever since the rise of his Islamist-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP) to power in 2002, Recep Tayyip Erdogan has refrained from publicly endorsing calls for converting Hagia Sophia from its current status as a museum into a mosque.
While he is certainly sympathetic to this particular cause cherished by Turkey’s Islamists and ultranationalists alike, Erdogan — first as prime minister and then as president — generally acted with circumspection.
His more recent calls within the last two years to turn the Hagia Sophia into a mosque were either ploys to gain political ground or divert public attention away from his political failures. Erdogan’s latest push, however, may be different.
The historic background
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