Feridun Zaimoglu – a devout Muslim, an author with Turkish roots and with a German passport – welcomes the conversion of the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul from a museum to a mosque.A Turkish historian is already demanding the removal of Christian mosaics, as Muslims should not have to pray under the image of a “whore”.”I welcome when a god is worshipped again in a house of worship,” Zaimoglu said in an interview with his employer, the weekly newspaper “Die Zeit”, where he writes about literary criticism and essays. “After all, the Hagia Sophia was not built as a depository and showroom of cult objects,” says the Turkish-born writer.Zaimoglu showed understanding for the decision of the Islamic despot Erdogan to transform the once most important church of the Christian Occident into a mosque, as well as for the fact that people – in the concrete case he might have meant here exclusively his Muslim fellow believers – are devoted to holy places. “We are talking about traditional history, about history turned to stone,” the author continued. “But for now, there won’t be masses of tourists coming to Hagia Sophia and taking pictures all the time.”Since pictorial depictions of people are not allowed in the backward Islamic ideology, the historical Christian images of Mary, Jesus and saints must disappear during the Islamic prayer, which will take place tomorrow, Friday, for the first time under media hype. The mosaics are to be covered with curtains during the Islamic prayers in the former church, Erdogan’s government spokesman explained. It is not yet clear whether the Turks will drill holes into the centuries-old mosaics to attach brackets.The Turkish historian Ebubekir Sofuoğlu has already demanded the removal of the Christian mosaics from the Hagia Sophia, which has been converted into a mosque. “If the icons do not disappear from the Ayasofya, this will be the first mosque where the prostitute Zoe and prostitution will be displayed,” the Islamic zealot wrote on Twitter. With this he referred to pictures of the Byzantine empress Zoe. The Christian ruler had married several times and is said to have had various lovers. The representations were a disrespect, Sofuoğlu continues. “And the protection of these symbols and this nonsense must stop.”
journalistenwatch.com/2020/07/23/tuerkischstaemmiger-schriftsteller-zaimoglu/