The decision of the President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, to convert the famous Hagia Sophia into a mosque is, to my mind, a reactionary stunt, and deserves to be condemned.
Erdogan did this gimmick because the Turkish economy is tanking. Unemployment is at a record high, and Turks are leaving Turkey in large numbers seeking employment in other countries. Consequently, Erdogan's popularity is at a new low.
Till the early 1920s, Turkey was a poor, backward, feudal country, ruled by a Sultan, who kept it backward. It was called ' The Sick Man of Europe', and was often kicked around by European powers.
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, former president, who was also an army general, realised that this sad state of affairs of his country was because of its backwardness, and he decided to modernise it. In the 1920s, he abolished sharia law, burqa, and madrasas, and made Turkey a modern secular state.
Among the reforms he introduced was, secularising Hagia Sophia and making it a museum in 1935. This marvellous structure was a church in the Byzantine Empire, built in 537 AD by Emperor Justinian, and it was converted into a mosque after the Ottoman Sultan Mohammed II conquered Constantinople (renamed Istanbul) in 1457. From 1935 onward, however, it was made a museum by Mustafa Kemal.
Now, President Erdoğan is trying to set the clock back by trying to convert a secular country into an Islamic one. His latest decision to convert Hagia Sophia into a mosque, is among the reactionary steps he has taken to get cheap popularity, and restore his failing image. This step is to divert public attention from the economic crisis which Turkey is going through, and which Erdogan has no idea how to resolve.
It is submitted that what are needed are not mosques, churches or temples but good schools, scientific institutes, engineering colleges, medical colleges, and hospitals. That alone will take a country forward, not stunts and gimmicks.
Justice Markandey Katju retired from the Supreme Court in 2011
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author's and do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of THE WEEK
