The World Council of Churches, which brings together about 350 Christian churches, including Protestant and Orthodox, expressed its "grief and dismay" on Saturday after the Turkish authorities decided to transform the former Hagia Sophia in Istanbul from museum to mosque .
The acting secretary general of the Council, Professor Ioan Sauca, expressed this reaction in a letter to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, published on the website of the Geneva-based organization, which brings together around 500 million believers. The Catholic Church is not part of it, but collaborates with the Council on certain files.
“Renewal of divisions between religious communities”
Since 1934 - when the temple was transformed into a museum - Hagia Sophia "has been a place of openness, meetings and inspiration for people of all nations and all religions", writes Ioan Sauca, member of the 'Romanian Orthodox Church, Erdogan. This was good proof of "Turkey's attachment to secularism" and of its "desire to leave behind the conflicts of the past," he continues.
He criticizes Erdogan for "reversing this positive sign of the opening of Turkey to make it a sign of exclusion and division". In addition, this decision risks encouraging "the ambitions of other groups elsewhere, which seek to change the status quo and promote the renewal of divisions between religious communities," he warns.
Convictions and regrets
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced on Friday that the former Byzantine basilica of former Constantinople would be open to Muslim prayers as a mosque on Friday July 24, while remaining open to visitors.
Converted into a mosque after the capture of Constantinople by the Ottomans in 1453, it was transformed into a museum by the leader of the young Turkish Republic, Mustafa Kemal, anxious to "offer it to humanity".
This decision by President Erdogan provoked condemnations and regrets in Greece, France, Russia, the United States but also at Unesco, which had classified Hagia Sophia as world heritage.
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