غزوة اردوغان والاتراك لكاتدرائية القديسة صوفيا الخاوية والمستحوذ عليها قسرا .. تقرير من نيويورك تايمز
رصدت نيويورك تايمز بالصورة : احتشاد تركى بزعامة اردوغان لاداء صلاة الجمعة بكاتدرائية القديسة صوفيا الخاوية , والتى يستحوذ عليها الاتراك فى تحدى كبير للسلوك الانسانى واحترام معابد الاخريين, حيث كتبت تقريرا واسعا يتضمن غضبة المسيحيين والاكاديمين.. اليكم التقرير كاملا
ISTANBUL — President Recep Tayyip Erdogan sealed his long-stated desire to restore the historic Hagia Sophia as a working mosque on Friday, opening the magnificent Byzantine structure built in the sixth century as the world’s largest cathedral to thousands of Muslim worshipers for the first time in nearly nine decades.
Huge crowds began gathering even in the pre-dawn hours around Hagia Sophia, to attend Friday Prayer, a crowning moment for Mr. Erdogan after 18 years at the helm of Turkish politics.
Under heavy police security, worshipers settled on the streets and sidewalks on their rugs, covering their faces with masks against the coronavirus and their heads with makeshift shades against a searing sun. Every cobbled street around the mosque was packed, as well as the open spaces along the length of the ancient hippodrome where Roman chariots once raced.
Mr. Erdogan arrived at noon, wearing a mask, and sat on the mosque floor, head bowed and eyes closed, listening to the melodic recitation of the Quran, which was carried live on national television. At 1 p.m., the crowd fell silent and knelt in unison, as the head mufti, his hands clasped on the hilt of the sword of conquest, gave his sermon.
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“This is a festival for us today, we are so happy,” said Selahattin Yigiter, a retired businessman who was sitting with his wife on a prayer mat on the sidewalk below the nearly 1,500-year-old building. “With the pressure of Muslim people it is reconverted.”
But the atmosphere of celebration among the Muslim faithful in Turkey contrasted with the angst and dismay Mr. Erdogan’s decision has generated among Christians around the world and among many in academic and conservation communities.
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Built in the sixth century by a Byzantine emperor, Justinian I, Hagia Sophia was for nearly a thousand years the largest church in the world and the center of Christendom. In 1453, the Ottoman sultan Mehmed II conquered Constantinople and converted the majestic building into a mosque: It became one of Islam’s holiest sites.
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