All PostsFeatured-MainPolitical ArticlesPolitics

An opinion: Why has Turkey taken such a decision about Hagia Sophia, now?

"Share this post on social media, spread the news"

Turkey has taken a very important decision to convert Hagia Sophia which served as a museum for many decades into a mosque where Muslims will be able to worship just like many other mosques in Turkey. This decision which was welcome by a considerable group of citiziens (mainly religious and nationlist) it also caused a lot of controversy abroad. What was it that caused Turkey to take such a critical decision all of a sudden at this time? Down below you will find some observations from Murat YETKIN who is a veteran journalist in the field of “foreign policy”.

“During a public address before the municipal elections almost a year ago, President Erdogan had silenced the slogans of “Let the Hagia Sophia open” and said, “fill the Sultanahmet Mosque opposite Hagia Sophia first, we will not be provoked”. The question was made even more explicit when asked a few days later, on March 18, 2019, on the live broadcast of three channels:

“It’s OK for us to get over these. We will. But what’s the payoff? The bill for us would be much higher. Let’s not forget, we now have thousands of mosques in various countries around the world. Do those who say these think what will happen to those mosques?Sorry but they do not know the world. They don’t know their counterparts. So as a political leader, I have not lost my direction enough to come to this game. We’re going to be sensitive therefore, we’re going to be careful, we are not going to be duped.

The question is “what happened in the intervening short period of time” to cause this major change to make the president who said “I have not lost my direction enough to come to this game.” only a short while ago, take this step that sparked reaction in the outside world, this time?

When we look for an explanation to this point we come to think of the motivating factors below that likely caused the President to take such a step:

Erdogan-led AK Party suffered serious defeats in March 31 and June 24 (repeat) local elections despite the support of the MHP led by Devlet Bahçeli

The mayorships of giant metropoles such as Istanbul and Ankara passed from the AK Party to the CHP led by Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu (with the support of the IYI Party led by Meral Akşener). The opposition was able to have access to a wide audience of voters, years later. The AK Party was also deprived of the advantages of the municipalities.

The Coronavirus outbreak affected the already fragile economy even worse. The decline in sectors such as tourism and transport made hot foreign exchange inflows difficult. According to a poll by the MetroPoll research company, the public, including the AK Party voters, do not believe the inflation and unemployment figures announced by TUIK (controlled by AK Party).

In addition to the Good Party, which took an important portion of the MHP base, two parties directly originating from within the AK Party entered politics: The Future Party led by Ahmet Davutoglu and the DEVA Party led by Ali Babacan.

Based on these three developments mentioned above, the meltdown in the base of the AK Party and the MHP began to be reflected in the polls. With the move of Hagia Sophia, the President is sending a message of “Don’ go stay” to his base.

Important note: In the meantime though, instead of the negative reaction that the government expected from the CHP (opposition), the statement issued by Kılıçdaroğlu that went “Open it, there is already prayer being performed there” may have spoiled some plans of the government.”

MURAT YETKIN – yetkinreport.com

HEALTH MUSEUM VIDEO PIC 2