Turkey: As Christians celebrate a new church, religious minorities still call for respect
Though he has allowed new houses of worship to be built and old ones to be reopened, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan needs to do more, observers say, to restore respect for a truly pluralistic society as much as for church property. DAVID I KLEIN, of Religion News Service, reports…
“The old is gone”: Ruins of Turkish city of Antakya tell story of a rich past
SARAH EL DEEB, of Associated Press, reports from the storied Turkish city…
Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia opens as a mosque for Muslim prayers
Istanbul, TurkeyAP Fulfilling a dream of his Islamic-oriented youth, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan joined hundreds of worshipers Friday for the first Muslim prayers in 86 years inside Hagia Sophia, the Istanbul landmark that served as one of Christendom’s most significant cathedrals, a mosque and a museum before its conversion back into a Muslim place […]
Hagia Sophia’s history of conflict and faith
Ankara, TurkeyAP Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is scheduled to join hundreds of worshippers Friday for the first Muslim prayers at the Hagia Sophia in 86 years, after a controversial high court ruling paved the way for the landmark monument to be turned back into a mosque. A government decree reopened the “jewel” of the […]
World Council of Churches “dismayed” over Hagia Sophia shift; Pope Francis “deeply pained”
Frankfurt, Germany/Vatican CityAP The head of the World Council of Churches has written to Turkey’s President expressing his “grief and dismay” over Turkey’s decision to change the status of Istanbul’s landmark Hagia Sophia from a museum to a mosque. As a World Heritage museum, “Hagia Sophia has been a place of openness, encounter and inspiration […]
Turkey’s President formally makes Hagia Sophia a mosque
Ankara, TurkeyAP The President of Turkey on Friday formally converted Istanbul’s sixth-century Hagia Sophia back into a mosque and declared it open for Muslim worship, hours after a high court annulled a 1934 decision that had made the religious landmark a museum. The decision sparked deep dismay among Orthodox Christians. Originally a cathedral, Hagia Sophia […]
ESSAY: CHRISTIANS HAVE LIVED IN TURKEY FOR TWO MILLENNIA – BUT THEIR FUTURE IS UNCERTAIN
In an article first published on The Conversation, RAMAZAN KILINC, of the University of Nebraska Omaha, looks at the history of Christians in Turkey…
Turkish court puts trial of US pastor on hold for three weeks
World Watch Monitor Andrew Brunson got his first day in a Turkish court Monday to answer espionage charges. It will be three weeks until he gets his second. The American-born Ps Brunson, pastor of a small Protestant church, told the court he denies any wrongdoing. He is accused of supporting the attempted 2016 coup of […]