An international war of words is taking place across the Aegean over Turkey’s decision to allow daily Kuran readings to take place at the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, a United Nations World Heritage site and museum.
Sacred to Greeks and Christians throughout the world as the largest Orthodox Christian Church in the world for almost a thousand years and long a symbol of Hellenism to Greeks everywhere, Hagia Sophia has become a contentious issue between Greeks and Turks.
Turkey’s decision to hold daily Quran readings during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan sparked outrage from the Greek foreign ministry in a statement.
Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman Tanju Bilgic fired back that Greece should show “good sense” and criticized Greece for what he called suppression of the rights of its “Turkish” minority in northeastern Greece.
He also reminded Greece that efforts to build a mosque in Athens have been blocked by successive governments for years.
“We call on Greece, which has not allowed the establishment of a mosque in its capital for years and continuously interferes with the religious freedoms of the Turkish minority in Western Thrace and mixes anti-Islamism with modernity, for common sense in its statements and stance,” Bilgic’s statement said.
“We must also keep in mind that the values of contemporary, democratic and secular societies include respect for other religions and prayers,” Bilgic said.
Greece does not recognize its Muslim population located predominantly around the city of Xanthi in northeastern Greece as ethnically Turkish, instead referring to them as a religious (Muslim) minority.
Similar controversy erupted in 2014 when thousands of Muslims were bussed in to Istanbul and prayed outside Hagia Sophia, calling for the museum’s conversion into a mosque.
6 comments
Us non Greek Whites might have our differences and thanks for letting me post my feelings as of late, but I obviously find this so offensive about Turkey! Big demon “neighbor” of a country talking about intolerance but yet causes deep offense by praying inside arguably the greatest built church of all time, Hagia Sophia!
I don’t believe Turks are treated badly in Greece. It’s all made up! Islam is an evil religion, Turkey is an evil country. There’s no shame there at all!
I will pray more for justice for Greece, Constantinople, Asia Minor and also Cyprus! A new power has got to come in the world (call him superman or whatever…) to rid the world of pure evil!
I do feel that the West should have done more to defend Greece culturally in the past (like when Constantinople was temporarily taken just after WW1.) Return Elgin’s Marbles, make the Olympics forever in Greece! Kick Turkey out of NATO and put Greeks back in Constantinople now! Restore beautiful Hagia Sophia! And smash the Baalim-like Muslim artwork in there and throw it in the sea!
Please pray for all of this people. All Whites must unite!
You are funny. Read your history lol. Your race is not white.
Turks are actually a white race .Middle Eastern people are also Caucasian. … Caucasian, Turks moved into anotolia around 1071 B.C and they come from Central Asia through Caucasia and spent centuries in these places, so you still can find Turkic Tribes in Caucasia. Speaking Turkish or Azerbaijani Turkish.
Greeks have been living under roman rule for 2000 years . Greeks never had any balls to be able to win a war against any country. Greeks pigybag of other countries. It would take 12 hours to invite and take over Greece.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peoples_of_the_Caucasus_in_Turkey
Got to love the hypocrisy of the Turks. All those Western Thrace Muslims have been allowed to live and worship while the Greeks in Turkey have been beaten, raped, killed and have their rights taken away. Just look at the 1958 Istanbul attacks on ethnic Greeks. Turkey does NOT understand treaties cause they violated/ignored the Treaty of Lausanne since 1930s!
This is so typical of greek nationalists. They call a religion evil because it doesn’t fit their agenda. The intolerant religion that is called orthodox that killed and burned people for simply not following the religion.
Then they say they don’t treat Muslims bad in their country when all they do is abuse and harm them. They won’t allow religious freedom or places of worship. Greeks are weak and always have been the type that is a nation of horrific acts towards other religion and nationals. Turks and other Turkic countries used to be quite and pacifist. Things have changed and there will be no more silence and being forced to do things that are pushed upon the turks by threats of economic or political cohersen. Those days are over. Get used to it. Turk are here and they will be here long after greeks disapear. I developed hate towards greeks from interacting with greeks for years and watching the intolerance and evil ways that they attempt to get their ways. There are churches in turkey but no mosques in Greece. The treaty was accepted by weak fake sultans that were of ermanian and greek decents. The turkish does not recognize those. Treaty of Lausanne is overin 2023 . Get with the program greeks. Get used to saying i love turkiye. Malaka.
Here is one of the examples of greeks torture muslim children .
Also greeks are not white. And Christians and Catholics don’t like otthodox. They tolerate you because they hate Islam more.
https://avarchives.icrc.org/Picture/20041