The return of Hagia Sophia to the status of a mosque in Turkey could lead to a religious split and create a dangerous precedent for other religious groups, according to a letter from the acting general director of the World Council of Churches, Ioan Sauki, to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
In a letter circulated on Saturday by the press service of the World Council of Churches, Sauka expresses “the grief and confusion of the BCC and 350 churches from 110 countries of the Council”, regarding the step taken by the Turkish authorities regarding Hagia Sophia.
“Having decided to make Hagia Sophia back a church, you reversed Turkey’s positive signs of openness and turned them into signs of exclusion and separation”, – the letter said.
Sauka regrets that the decision of Turkey was made without discussing the situation with UNESCO, given the international value of Hagia Sophia.
According to him, the return of Hagia Sophia to the status of a mosque “will inevitably lead to uncertainty, suspicion and mistrust, will undermine all efforts to unite people of different faiths at the same table of dialogue and cooperation”.
The ARIA also fears that the decision of the Turkish authorities “will inspire the ambitions of other groups anywhere, who want to change the existing status quo and promote the idea of separation of religious communities”.