ERDOGAN-LED TURKEY SOFTENS RHETORIC; CONTINUES TO DESECRATE HAGIA SOPHIA

 

                                

The 61st round of exploratory talks between Greek and Turkish diplomats began on Monday in the latter country, nearly six years after Ankara left the process.

The development comes after an entire year, 2020, when Turkish belligerence, provocations and war-mongering extended from North Africa, to the eastern Mediterranean, the Mideast and as far as the Caucasus. However, faced with the prospect of EU sanctions against it and a less favorable US administration in Washington, the Erdogan regime has softened its rhetoric and now refers to talks, instead of lobbing threats.

Nonetheless, while momentarily suspending its confrontational behavior, the now unabashedly Islamist Turkish government continued to desecrate the Hagia Sophia, the greatest of all basilicas in eastern Christendom.

According to state-run media in Turkey this month, Islamic objects that have been exhibited in museums over the past eight decades will again be moved the Hagia Sophia, months after Turkish President Recep tayyip Erdogan reconverted the Orthodox cathedral into a mosque – from its previous status as a museum and a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Additionally, banners featuring Islamic calligraphy are being restored to again be hanged from the rafters of the Hagia Sophia.

orthodoxia news agency