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Originally Posted by phillip
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Sir...my point was and is that Big K stated that the turks were tolerant religiously. St. Sophia certainly puts the lie to that statement. You don't
go into someone elses church and paint over all their religious paintings and then build minarets around it. Also stated was that the orthodox prefered to be Ottomans rather than Catholics. How can you seriously believe that?
While I have this window open let me also comment upon another gem from Big K...namely that Greece had imperialistic expansionist aims in 1923...well sure, they wanted Constantinople back. When the Turk took that city wasn't their aim imperialistic and expansionist? The Greeks were looking to get back what was theirs whereas the Turk was looking for more land and converts, more young kids from the Balkans to fill their Jannisery (?) corp.
Regarding the reinforcing of the church to keep it from collapsing, better that it had collapsed than remain among the Turk. The paintings were saved by being plastered over...how nice of the Turks to think that far ahead.
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(1) I can sense your intollerance!
(2) The Ottoman Sultan was just doing what his Christian counterpart did in the past in Spain. The Great Mosque of Cordoba was converted into a Church and it still remains a church till this day!
(3) The Turkish Republic under Mustafa Kemal Ataturk declared Hagia Sofia a museum and it remains till this day a museum! Muslims are not allowed to prey in it either. Hagia Sofia has a budget of $100 million dollars per year. This budget is mainly used for the restoration and preservation of this magnificiant structure! I invite you to go see Hagia Sofia for yourself before making false assumptions!
(4) What was the Anglo-saxons doing when the Ottomans were "invading" Hellenic territories? Weren't they invading Africa and India in a bid to exploit their resources? What were they doing with African children? Taking them back to Britain for Slave labour!!
(5) Religious tolerance is just something which the Turks are known for! Turkey is the only country in the Middle East where Jewish peoples can prosper!