World Council of Churches
Geneva, 11 July, 2020: In a letter to H.E. Recep Tayyip Erdogan, President of the Republic of Turkey, the World Council of Churches interim
general secretary Rev. Prof Dr Ioan Sauca is expressing his fervent
hope and prayer that Hagia Sophia will not become once again a focus of
confrontation and conflict, but will be restored to the emblematic
unifying role that it has served since 1934. Read the full letter:
Dear Mr President,
Since it began functioning as a museum in 1934, Hagia Sophia has
been a place of openness, encounter and inspiration for people from all
nations and religions, and a powerful expression of the Republic of
Turkey’s commitment to secularism and inclusion and of its desire to
leave behind the conflicts of the past.
Today, however, I am obliged to convey to you the grief and dismay
of the World Council of Churches – and of its 350 member churches in
more than 110 countries, representing more than half a billion
Christians around the world – at the step you have just taken. By
deciding to convert the Hagia Sophia back to a mosque you have reversed
that positive sign of Turkey’s openness and changed it to a sign of
exclusion and division. Regrettably, this decision has also been taken
without prior notice or discussion with UNESCO regarding the impact of
this decision on Hagia Sophia’s universal value recognized under the
World Heritage Convention.
Over the years, the World Council of Churches has made great
efforts to support the active engagement of its member churches in
interreligious dialogue, in order to build bridges of mutual respect and
cooperation based on values shared between the different religious
communities. Furthermore, in times of challenge, the WCC together with
its member churches has spoken out in defence and support of other
religious communities, including Muslim communities, for their rights
and integrity to be respected. The decision to convert such an
emblematic place as Hagia Sophia from a museum back to a mosque will
inevitably create uncertainties, suspicions and mistrust, undermining
all our efforts to bring people of different faiths together at the
table of dialogue and cooperation. Moreover, we greatly fear that it
will encourage the ambitions of other groups elsewhere that seek to
overturn the existing status quo and to promote renewed divisions
between religious communities.
Mr President, you have repeatedly affirmed modern Turkey’s
identity as a secular state, but yesterday you overturned a commitment
that since 1934 has preserved this historic monument as the shared
heritage of humanity. In the interests of promoting mutual
understanding, respect, dialogue and cooperation, and avoiding
cultivating old animosities and divisions, we urgently appeal to you to
reconsider and reverse your decision.
We join with His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew in
expressing our fervent hope and prayer that Hagia Sophia will not become
once again a focus of confrontation and conflict, but will be restored
to the emblematic unifying role that it has served since 1934.
Yours respectfully, Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca
Interim General Secretary
World Council of Churches