The now unabashedly Islamist Erdogan government is attempting to deflect the international outcry that accompanied its conversion of the iconic Hagia Sophia – the greatest of all basilicas of eastern Christendom – in a mosque, by issuing a book to justify the shocking July 2020 decision.
According to reports, the Erdogan regime will throw out legal arguments based Turkish and Ottoman law, in order to try and defend its 21st century insult to Christianity, and especially to Orthodoxy.
The book aims to portray Turkey as a protector of humanity’s cultural heritage, weeks after the abrupt change of Hagia Sophia’s status from the best known monument and most visited museum in the country into a so-called “conquest mosque”.
Turkish media reports said the English-language edition will be distributed to “… distinguished personalities in the Christian world”.