ISTANBUL -- The media and antigovernment groups in Turkey have been forced into silence regarding the Turkish government's conversion of Hagia Sophia, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Istanbul, back into a mosque.
Orhan Pamuk, a writer and Nobel Prize laureate, criticized the reversion of Hagia Sophia, also known as Ayasofya, to a mosque, during an interview with The Yomiuri Shimbun and deplored the situation, saying: "There is no free speech in Turkey. Neither [Turkish] nationals nor the media are able to challenge the authoritarian government."
Pamuk received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2006. His works include "My Name Is Red" (Benim Adim Kirmizi), in which he contrasts Western culture with non-Western culture, and "Snow" (Kar), which depicts conflicts between Islamic fundamentalism and secularism. He was charged with insulting the state as a result of making a statement acknowledging the Armenian genocide in Turkey during World War I.
Hagia Sophia was built in the sixth century as a cathedral of the Greek Orthodox Church and was converted into a mosque in the 15th century under the Ottoman Empire. Kemal Ataturk, the founding father of the Republic of Turkey, had the building remodeled into a museum to display cultural properties of both Christianity and Islam. Ever since, this building has been a symbol of secularism, which is a founding principle of this nation where politics is separated from religion.
Pamuk said during a recent interview, "Ataturk signaled to the world and the West that 'We are tolerant. We are secular. Religion is not our only ideology.' He did it by making Ayasofya into a museum."
"I am against its conversion into a mosque," Pamuk stressed. "Turkey is a secular nation of Muslims."
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose administration is strongly Islamic, signed a presidential order on July 10 to designate Hagia Sophia as a mosque.
A survey conducted in early July by a private survey institution in Turkey shows that 46% of respondents approve of the building's use as a mosque, while 43% disapprove, leaving a very narrow margin between supporters and opponents.
The iron-fisted Erdogan administration has forced antigovernment media outlets to close in recent years, thus suppressing criticism against using the building as a mosque. The parliament and judicial authorities have failed to adequately fulfill their functions to monitor and check the administration.
Pamuk gave a fervent warning: "The streets are colored by newspapers and posters supporting the administration. Monitoring of social media will be intensified, too. Turkey will be seen to be like an extremely authoritarian and controlling country."
The Erdogan administration has come up with Islamic charged policies one after another, including the order to turn the Karie Museum into a mosque, deepening divisions in society. "U.S. President Donald Trump is said to have divided the American people, but it is happening everywhere. There are left-wingers and right-wingers in a normal democracy," Pamuk said. But "In Turkey, power is concentrated in one pole and the parliament is only a decoration. The courts, especially high courts, are not independent and are very politicized," he said.
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