scorecardresearch
Thursday, August 28, 2025
TopicHagia Sophia

Topic: Hagia Sophia

Church, museum & UNESCO heritage site, mosque — Turkey’s Hagia Sophia has been all that & more

Built as a cathedral, it was made a mosque in 1453 by Ottomans. In 1934, it became a museum, but was redisgnated a mosque in 2020. On Saturday ‘taraweeh‘ prayers were held here after 88 years.

Turkey’s Hagia Sophia holds ‘taraweeh’ prayers during Ramadan for first time in 88 years

This comes two years after Turkish President Erdogan made the controversial decision to redesignate the Byzantine-era monument, a former cathedral and museum, into a mosque.

SubscriberWrites: Majoritarianism and religious nationalism unite Ram Temple in Ayodhya, Hagia Sophia in Istanbul

Both in India and Turkey, governments appealed to religious sentiments of the majority to garner public support during times of social and economic distress, writes Tuhin Das.

Let Ayodhya Ram Mandir be a reminder: Indian ancestors died for it, up to us to rebuild

Rebuilding is a civilisational responsibility Indians owe to their ancestors, who were the only ones among all pre-Bronze Age pagans who managed to protect their way of life.

Like Babri case, Hagia Sophia becoming mosque no setback to secular values, says Turkish envoy

Turkey is set to convert the Byzantine-era Hagia Sophia into a mosque. The envoy said the highest court’s ruling in the case is similar to Ayodhya verdict.

Erdogan’s Turkey is on Pakistan-Indonesia track. Mixing military greed and radical Islam

By changing Hagia Sophia into a mosque, Recep Erdogan is overturning the brute modernity imposed under Mustafa Kemal Ataturk's rule.

If the Supreme Court of India was deciding on Hagia Sophia, this is what it would have said

The Babri Masjid-Ram Janambhoomi case provides a template to imagine how the Supreme Court of India would have probably decided on the status of Turkey’s Hagia Sophia.

Indian secularism still has a future if followers stop blame game with RSS: Rajmohan Gandhi

Yogendra Yadav's understanding of Abhay Dubey's book on Indian secularism is indisputable. But let's not forget that secularism forced even RSS to accept lower-caste Hindus.

How Erdogan’s Hagia Sophia mosque move erases Ataturk’s stamp on Turkey

With Hagia Sophia being reconverted to a mosque, which had been secularised by Ataturk in 1934, President Erdogan can drop the pretence of upholding Ataturk’s legacy.

On Camera

Severe Hyderabad internet outages make it an IT hub without the IT part

Many offices in Telangana have asked their employees to work from home because of heavy rainfall, but it has become impossible due to the internet outages.

‘Not just Russian oil, India tapped us along on trade deal,’ says US treasury secy Scott Bessent

New Delhi: The US is not worried about the rupee “becoming a reserve currency” given that it is at an all-time low versus the...

CDS on differences on theaterisation—views welcome, final call to be in nation’s best interests

The Navy has always been on board with the theaterisation plan, but the Air Force feels splitting up air assets into several theatre commands is futile & will tie up critical systems.

That Oval Office picture for ages deserves closer Indian reading, with a geopolitical lens

Putin sees this as a victory. Europeans have decided to deal with Trump on his terms for the sake of the larger Western alliance. We look at the lessons for us in India.