Why focus on the Hagia Sophia now?
I have been reading it here and there… But no concrete information has come from first hand or authorized sources. According to what has been written, the Fethullah Gülen community has been warming up the topic of “opening Hagia Sophia to worship.”
The aim is thought to be to put the government in a difficult situation, especially in the international arena.
I really don't want to believe it; so for this reason, I want to ask openly: Are these rumors true?
Before they answer, let me give my opinion: If the rumours are true, it simply does not suit the community. If they are true, then all the messages of dialogue and mutual understanding that they have been conveying in the international platform up to today were nothing more than simple hypocrisy, I say.
What I am saying is that all of that tolerance, respect for beliefs, etc., has been hypocrisy. For heaven’s sake, is this the main problem of Turkey in the 21st century?
Would this turn out to be the vision of the mighty “Hizmet” movement, which is trying to bring light into the entire world without discriminating between religion, race and culture?
Not only them, but I want to address all those who are stirring this matter up and who are involved in it: This supposedly the great Turkey, this economic giant, the gross national product of which is nearing $1.4 trillion, the jewel of the eye of the Muslim world…
This country, our Turkey… Are we going to clutch at such symbolic initiatives, in this century?
A country where every day calls to prayer are recited from its 80,000 mosques, where prayers are performed five times a day, will now go and re-conquer one of the biggest symbols of the Orthodox world. Is that so?
You have built one of the most beautiful mosques in the Islamic world right across from it… You have made the whole world acknowledge the aesthetic marvels of Architect Sinan.
In those places, there, every day calls to prayer are chanted, prayers are held…
During the months of Ramadan roof ridges shine brilliantly…
But that is not adequate for you; you are eyeing a symbolic worship place of the Christian world and you particularly want to open it for worship.
Would you have enjoyed it so much if a mosque at the center of Europe was converted into a church?
I am writing this and I am criticizing, but I am still not sure…
The Fethullah Hoca I know of would not be pleased by such things.
Friends, Istanbul has been in the hands of Turks for 560 years. It has been one of the monuments of the country for 90 years, the population of which is 99 percent Muslim.
What more, what else are you going to prove, and to whom?
In the middle of 80,000 mosques are you now focusing on a Christian church?
Shame, shame on you…
Stop this, stop doing politics at the level of daily Vakit.
No Christian church would bother any bighearted Turk, or Kurd, or any Muslim…
Indeed, if their hearts were great…
If Turkey’s national income exceeds 1 trillion
Yes, if Turkey’s gross national product has really reached $1.3 trillion, if its purchasing power parity has exceeded $17,000 and is close to $18,000, then this is an extraordinary success for Turkey.
If you ask whose success this is, then the achievement belongs to the Tayyip Erdoğan government that has been ruling the country for 12 years.
Well, where did these figures come from? Are they reliable? I read them in daily Hürriyet yesterday. The source is the World Bank.
What does this mean? We are nearing Spain in terms of purchasing power.
Let’s all admit that this is a major success. All of us, this was or that way, are or will be taking our share of this achievement.
