“Turkey turning Hagia Sophia back into mosque divides social media.”

Umut Uras. “Turkey turning Hagia Sophia back into mosque divides social media.” Al Jazeera. July 11, 2020, https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/07/turkey-turning-hagia-sophia-mosque-divides-social-media-200711104417533.html

How has learning World History this summer grown your ability to understand or appreciate the article?

How you would have read the article 3 months ago. Do you think you read it differently now? In what way?

The conversion of Hagia Sophia back into a mosque has caused controversy. While others cheer with approval, others disagree with the decision. “Hagia Sophia was built as a cathedral in the Christian Byzantine Empire and was converted into a mosque after the Ottoman Empire conquered Constantinople in 1453 and changed the city’s name to Istanbul” (Uras, 2020).  Those who were in favor of the conversion of Hagia Sophia back into in mosque believed that the “chains [had] been broken” and that the spirit of the Ottomans has been revived in the hearts of the Turks. While those who opposed it believed that Hagia Sofia should have been kept for all religions and backgrounds—“Hagia Sofia is timeless and not limited to religion. It belongs to history and humanity” (Uras, 2020).

If I had read this article three months ago I would have not understood it at all. I would have not been familiar with the Byzantine Empire, Constantinople, and the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman Empire conquered Constantinople in 1453 marking the end of the Byzantine Empire this victory allowed Ottoman rulers to see themselves as successors to the Roman Empire. “The Byzantine Empire encompassed much of the eastern Mediterranean basin while continuing traditions of the Greco-Roman world, though on a smaller scale, until its conquest by the Muslim Ottoman Empire in 1453” (Strayer, p. 410). The Ottoman Empire lasted from the fourteenth to the early twentieth century (516). This empire represented the emergence of the Turks as the dominant people of the Islamic world.  “Many academics and secular-minded intellectuals [believed that] religion was headed for extintion in the face of modernity, science, communism, or globalization” (Strayer, p.1042). Knowing some background history most certainly helped me appreciate and understand this article. It would be hard for me to decide if I am in agreement with the conversion or if Hagia Sophia should be a historical landmark for humanity; both are of great importance.