“Erdogan’s opponents say he has raised the issue of restoring Hagia Sophia as a mosque every time he has faced a political crisis, using it to stir supporters in his nationalist and conservative religious base.”

Same old #MandirVahiBanaenge play book... https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/08/world/europe/erdogan-hagia-sophia-mosque.html

“More than 55% of respondents to a June survey conducted by Turkey’s Metropoll said (one of) its ( #HagiaSophia issue) main purpose is to distract from discussions of Turkey’s economic crisis...”

Same old distractions play book.. https://time.com/5864661/hagia-sofia-erdogan-mosque-istanbul/

Finally, a good time to revisit this (yet another!) brilliant thread by @Schandillia (read till the end to know why we should pay attention to the slippery slope #Turkey is on)

#HagiaSophia

https://twitter.com/schandillia/status/1247761246633340929?s=21 https://twitter.com/schandillia/status/1247761246633340929

PS - Feel privileged (though didn’t know it then!) to have visited #HagiaSophia when Turkey had not yet become Erdogan’s version of it...