Erdogan will delay the issue of the status of Hagia Sofia expert

Based on how Recep Tayyip Erdogan usually builds his policy, it should be assumed that the issue of the status of Hagia Sofia will be delayed and used as an instrument of pressure on partners, said Roman Lunkin, a religious scholar, in an interview with a correspondent for the news agency on Thursday, July 2. As previously reported, on July 2, at the initiative of the President of Turkey, the country's state council considered the issue of a possible change in the status of Hagia Sofia and its transformation from a museum to a mosque. The decision is expected to be announced in the coming weeks. See also: US authorities urged Turkey to leave the Cathedral of Hagia Sofia with a museum. I think that for Erdogan, as a traditionalist politician, it is more important to declare the very possibility of transforming the museum into a mosque than to really take this step. The decision was not made quickly, and now it will be difficult for Erdogan to backtrack and say that this decision should be delayed. But it is also difficult to approve this decision: depriving Hagia Sofia of the status of a museum, of course, would be an international scandal. This would begin a new round of ideological confrontation with the United States, because Donald Trump is considered a conditionally Christian leader, and calls have already been made from the United States not to change the status of the museum. This would complicate Turkey's relations with Russia, because Vladimir Putin has repeatedly talked about his readiness to defend Christian values. In addition, for Russia, St. Sophia has, among other things, also great historiosophical significance. Based on how the Turkish president as a whole builds his policy, I would assume that he will delay this issue and use the problem as an instrument of pressure on partners, including the European Union. If the decision were made quickly, this would be a vivid demonstration of his separation from the European world, although it cannot be completely ruled out that he also likes this image, said Roman Lunkin.