07/15/2020

Christians in the Middle East are disappointed

The West supports and tries to justify Turkey's Islamization policy (Press Release)

From the viewpoint of the Christian minorities in the Middle East, the plans of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to convert the Hagia Sophia back into a mosque are an attack on their religious rights and an obstacle to peaceful coexistence. Apart from that, they are deeply disappointed by the hesitant reactions of Western governments and churches to his aggressive Islamization policy. "The West supports and tries to justify the way Turkey treats its dwindling Christian minority – this view is reflected by many social media posts in the Middle East," stated Dr. Kamal Sido, Middle East Consultant of the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP). "In the time of the Ottoman Empire, the Christians in the region had been abandoned when the West needed Turkey as a bulwark against other powers from further east. The view that little has changed in this respect is very widespread."

Some even accuse Erdogan of continuing the practices of the so-called "Islamic State" (IS) by other means: "Even the IS tried to convert Christian churches into mosques in the northern Iraqi metropolis of Mosul or in the Syrian city of Raqqa," Sido recalled. Aamir Jamil Findikli, a Mosul historian, recently described Turkey's decision on the Hagia Sophia as a continuation of what has been happening for centuries – stating that the same trend could be observed in the Nineveh plain, to the north and the west of Mosul. "Christians, Yazidis, and other minority groups were driven out of the region in the summer of 2014," Sido criticized. "This happened under the eyes of the Turkish military – and Turkey supported or tolerated the attacks of the Islamic State against these minorities and against Kurdish Muslims who reject Islamic Sharia law."

A few days ago, the Armenian parliamentarian Garo Paylan from the pro-Kurdish party HDP wrote on Facebook: "Hagia Sophia was a symbol of our rich history. Its dome was big enough for all of us." Paylan has repeatedly criticized the denial of the genocide crimes against the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire and has been assaulted several times for this reason. Nationalist forces are already trying to lift his parliamentary immunity, in order to make him disappear in one of the country's prisons, like many other democratically elected opposition members. 

While Erdogan acts as if he were the patron saint of the Muslim Sunnis, Russian President Vladimir Putin is trying to present himself as the savior of Orthodox Christianity. "In reality, the two are cooperating in many areas – for example in fighting the Kurdish forces in northern Syria. Both leaders are instrumentalizing religious matters to achieve their geopolitical goals. The NATO states, especially the Federal Republic of Germany, must no longer support this policy by remaining silent," Sido emphasized.

Headerimage: Matthew and Heather via Flickr