Turks furious over young Hellene hoisting Greek flag in front of Hagia Sophia

The anger of the Turkish authorities was caused by the act of the Greek tik toker Michael Kondylas, who uploaded a video posing with a Greek flag in front of the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul.

In a video posted on social media, Michalis Kondylas holds up a Greek flag and says: “Hagia Sophia will always be a church. And not just a church, but a Greek church. Long live Greece. Long live Constantinople. Constantinople will always be a Greek city.”

Following a video circulating on social media showing a man holding a Greek flag standing in Sultanahmet Square, members of the Istanbul Provincial Police Department launched an investigation into the incident. The Turkish media, as well as the vice-president and press secretary of the Justice and Development Party, Omer Celik, spoke of a provocation.

Ayasofya Camii milletimizin kalbidir. Ebediyyen ezanlarıyla vatanımızın mührü olmaya devam edecektir. Ona yapılan her saygısızlık hüsranla sonuçlanacaktır. Muhafızı ay yıldızlı şanlı bayrağımızdır…#AyasofyaCamii pic.twitter.com/mjHzckWshr

— Ömer Çelik (@omerrcelik) June 30, 2023

Celik, in a social media post, stated: “The Hagia Sophia Mosque is the heart of the people (…). Its keeper is our flag with a crescent and a star.”

The author and hero of the video is a Greek citizen named Michalis Kondylis. The result of the investigation was the decision to impose a ban on his entry into Turkey.

The world-famous monument of Byzantine architecture, the symbol of the “Golden Age” of Byzantium and the Orthodox Cathedral – Hagia Sophia – was converted into a mosque in 2020. This historically significant building has experienced several status changes over the centuries, starting with the construction of a Byzantine church in the 6th century BC. and turned into a mosque after the fall of Constantinople in 1453. In 1935, the Hagia Sophia became a museum, where architectural and historical treasures were exhibited. For more than a thousand years, the building remained the largest temple in the Christian world – until the construction of St. Peter’s Cathedral in Rome. Its official name today is the Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque.

The decision to turn the Hagia Sophia into a mosque caused dissatisfaction among the Greeks for several reasons. Firstly, the building is one of the symbols of the historical and cultural heritage of Byzantium, which was perceived in the world as Greek Empire. For the Greeks, Hagia Sophia is of great importance as a historical monument associated with their national and cultural identity. Changing his status infringement of the Greek heritage and historical affiliation.

Secondly, the conversion of Hagia Sophia into a mosque has raised fears and concerns about the preservation and accessibility to the public of the cultural and artistic values ​​located inside the building, as expressed by and Turkish scientists. Also, this decision caused concern among experts about the impact on interreligious and intercultural harmony in the region. It is believed that the building was a historical example of the coexistence of Christianity and Islam, and turning it into an exclusively Muslim mosque can be seen as a move to increase division and tension between religious and ethnic groups. So, earlier, the leader of the Greek center-left Movement for Change KINAL (the former PASOK party) Fofi Gennimata spoke sharply on this subject and called for international sanctions against Turkey for the cathedral: “Erdogan’s decision to turn Hagia Sophia into a mosque is a challenge and an insult to the entire civilized world and Christianity. For us Greeks, it’s like a knife through the heart. He despises the decision of UNESCO, which declared the cathedral a world cultural heritage site.”

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