Column
Hagia Sophia and the Deafening Silence
History has shown that when populists rise to power, they widely use religious rhetoric for their campaign/ideological drive
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The coronavirus pandemic has come at a time when the world’s ‘Superpower nations’ are ruled by men embracing an ideology that is designed to push a radical cause. It comes packed with economic instability, the discrimination of religious minorities, the acceptance of open abuse, intolerance, corruption, the suppression of intellectuals, and the retract from the principles and ideals of Democracy. From Xi Jinping’s authoritarian China in the east to Donald Trump’s white supremacism in the US in the west — peace and harmony in nations are collapsing on a rapid scale.
History has shown that when populists rise to power, they widely use religious rhetoric for their campaign/ideological drive. Such leaders choose to rush their goals even in times of severe hardship and despair. At a time when the pandemic continues to infect thousands daily, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan with the decree was, however, quick to change the status-quo of Hagia Sophia.
The acceptance and ignorance of this move by Muslim nations expose their hypocrisy. The move might result in dangerous consequences as a divisive act on faith naturally tears apart the uniting fabric of secularism and paves way for normal citizens to become mob or the unpaid foot soldiers of a bigot-induced leader.
Recep’s recipe for disaster
Since rising to power in 2002, Erdoğan has slowly brunt Turkey’s secular beliefs. His latest move of converting Hagia Sophia into a mosque has met with appreciation among his hardcore Muslim supporters but with a sense of betrayal and disappointment among Christians across the globe. This demand by Erdoğan has been in his bucket list for a long time now.
The move was a major reversal of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk’s hard work of creating a unified land. Atatürk, often remembered as the Father of modern Turkey guided his people with several reforms that eventually changed the course of the nation. He made Turkey more progressive and its citizens welcomed secularism with…
