A few notes about #Turkey revoking Hagia Sophia's museum status:
1. #Erdogan is converting #HagiaSophia into a mosque, a decision that sparks risky polarization between #Muslims and #Christians. #Turkey's no shortage of mosques and the existing ones are hardly full to capacity.
1. #Erdogan is converting #HagiaSophia into a mosque, a decision that sparks risky polarization between #Muslims and #Christians. #Turkey's no shortage of mosques and the existing ones are hardly full to capacity.
2. I see some Muslims have been citing #Cordoba mosque's conversion into a cathedral since late 1400. Are you equating #Ferdinand II to #Erdogan? No civilized human being can justify what happened in #Spain against Muslims and #Jews and their places of worship. Stop the nonsense
3. Amidst the turbulent and troubled times, #Turkey and the Muslim nations, who raise concerns against #Islamophobia, must set an example of tolerance and religious harmony instead of stoking undue to hate or controversy. #HagiaSophia symbolizes a shared heritage. #UNAOC
4. #HagiaSophia's status as a museum brought #Turkey #tourism and tolerant image, which by one act of #Erdogan has been washed into the Bosphorus. It's going to be a nightmare for Ankara's foreign policy. [Read EU, Greece, #UNESCO response.]
5. How can Muslims defend their case for #BabriMosque if the conversion of #HagiaSophia is being justified? Logic must govern decisions not majority or authority. #Erdogan used to be the torchbearer of the alliance of civilization but that's history now. #DamnDirtyPolitics
6. If #HagiaSophia is #Turkey's internal matter, then what about mosques at risk in #India, occupied Palestine, #Myanmar etc? The far-right politics is ruining the gains made over decades, and Muslims must not join this fanaticism. Instead, we need to de-radicalize fast.
7. Avoiding an unnecessary controversy that is being viewed by #Europe and the West as #Christophobia must not lead you to brand others as liberals, #Islamophobes and apologists. The world needs healing touches and #Turkey and #Muslim states must have come forward than otherwise.
As a #Syria|n #Arab, I grew up with people of other religions. Diversity defines us. Tolerance's integral to the Levant. A toxic mix of political expediency and religious #extremism must not continue unhindered. Muslims already face persecution as refugees and minorities. #peace
