The Neue Zürcher Zeitung hosts a commentary on the conversion of Hagia Sophia into a mosque entitled “Erdogan’s Toxic Game with Hagia Sophia”.
The Swiss newspaper writes: “In a truly liberal Turkey, Constantinople could be the meeting point of Islam and Christianity, and the Hagia Sophia a forum for interfaith dialogue as well as the proof that in a secular state the coexistence of religion and secularism is possible.
Hagia Sophia could function as a mosque on Fridays, as a church on Sundays and as a museum on weekdays. Instead, President Erdoğan, by falsifying history, not only reinforces Islamist tendencies, but seeks to rekindle conflicts between Christians and Muslims in the Balkans.
What will be the next move of the Turkish president? The return to the Arabic alphabet or the traditional Turkish clothing that Kemal abolished? Or he will try to resurrect the Ottoman state?
Many advocate the latter. It is enough to look at the worrying developments in Turkish foreign policy, the military interventions in the Middle East, the aggressive claims in the Aegean and the military support of Azerbaijan in the war with Armenia.”