Turkey’s Behavior of Violating Values and Ignoring International Principles Continues – Aram A. Catholicos
JULY 11, 2020 – ARAM A. CATHOLICOS
We recently learned via the Internet that a Turkish court has decided to turn the historic Greek Hagia Sophia in Constantinople into a mosque.
Indeed, this temple, built in 537, is considered the pinnacle of Byzantine architecture. With the fall of the Byzantine Empire and the conquest of the Ottoman Empire in 1453, the temple was converted into a mosque and then, in 1935, into a museum.
In recent days, church leaders and the international community in general have called on Turkey not to take the step of turning Hagia Sophia into a mosque again and to maintain its current status. Armenian or foreign media wanted to have our point of view on this. We did not want to express an opinion, considering the nature of the decision to be given to the Turkish court. We want to make the following emphases.
First. Turkey is, in fact, pursuing its own initiative to violate spiritual and cultural values, to disregard the principles of international law, and to falsify history.
Second. Leaving aside its internal and external interests for the present and the future, as well as its geopolitical goals, Turkey will even ignore the dictates of its old and new friends.
Third. With this decision, Turkey is consciously attacking the coexistence based on Christian-Islamic mutual respect and trust, at the local, regional and international levels, despite warnings in this regard.
Fourth. With its current move, Turkey is reaffirming that its signs of openness to the West and to Christian communities were false.
Fifth. Where were the leaders of the Western world, political or spiritual, when thousands of churches belonging to the Armenian people after the Armenian Genocide were turned into stables, cafes, mosques and other public places?
Yes, the genocide is being perpetrated by the same genocide in the face of world silence. The dissident ideology of the Ottoman Empire permeates everywhere, from the Arab world to the West, in the face of the world’s silence.
ARAM A. CATHOLICOS
aztagdaily.com/archives/477568
English translation – LOUSAVOR AVEDIS:
