Turkey's President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan has issued an order to have Istanbul's medieval Church of the Holy Saviour in Chora be converted into a Muslim house of prayer. This order follows another recent order to convert the Hagia Sophia into a Mosque as well, both seemingly done to increase support amongst his more conservative voter base.
Erdogan's decision was met with much outrage and opposition by the foreign ministry of Greece, who claim that Erdogan is "brutally insulting" a heritage site beloved by another U.N. country. Erdogan's opposition, Garo Paylan, the HDP party lawmaker tweeted out, "One of the symbols of our country's deep, multicultural identity and multi-religious history has been sacrificed."
The Greek Ministry urges Turkey and Erdogan to return to the "mutual respect, dialogue, and understanding between civilizations," calling on them not to deface the history and cultural religious significance of the church, as it would be a "provocation against all believers."
