Turkey has turned the stunningly beautiful former Christian Byzantine cathedral to a den of thieves
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CDM was on the ground last week in Istanbul, Turkey and reported from the Hagia Sophia, the former Christian cathedral of the Byzantine Empire for a thousand years, now a mosque since Ottoman rule and currently under Turkey's Islamist ruler Recep Erdogan.
We noticed the constant attempts at manipulation and outright thievery from the Turkish commercial enterprises and confidence men now surrounding the ancient place of worship.
Just getting a taxi was an exercise in loss prevention.
The complex was a museum since 1935 under former Turkish leader Ataturk, but was converted to an active mosque once again by Erdogan in 2020, engendering global condemnation.
The respect by the Turkish government for the once beautiful cathedral and its Christian tradition has long evaporated, replaced by an infomercial, used car salesman environment, bent on taking advantage of tourists and the devout visiting the ancient monument to faith.
It seems one foreigner agrees with us and went to illegal, violent lengths today to express his displeasure, by attempting to light the interior of the now mosque on fire. There are conflicting reports as to the arsonist being detained.
We don't condone this of course, but we can understand the frustration.
