A recent news report unwittingly demonstrates how Turkey—once deemed the most “secularized” Muslim nation—is returning to its Islamic heritage, complete with animosity for the infidel West and dreams of the glory days of jihadi conquests:
A group of devout Muslims from across Turkey prayed before the city’s historic Hagia Sophia on the 562nd anniversary of the Turkish conquest of Istanbul [Constantinople], demanding that the site be turned back into a mosque.
Men and women from across the country gathered before the Hagia Sophia museum early May 31, as part of an event organized by the Anatolian Youth Association (AGD) with the motto “Break the chains, Open Hagia Sophia,” and prayed the morning prayer with a call for the reconversion of the museum into a mosque.
![Theofilos_Palaiologos](https://i0.wp.com/raymondibrahim.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Theofilos_Palaiologos.jpg?resize=1080%2C700)
In fact, this is an annual ritual. Thousands of Turks surround Hagia Sophia every May and call for it to become a mosque—often to Islam’s war-cry, “Allahu Akbar!”
This is not about a “minority of radicals.” In a survey conducted with 401 Turks, more than 97 percent wanted Hagia Sophia to be turned into a functioning mosque. Nor is this about Muslims needing a place to pray. As of 2010, there were 3,000 active mosques in Istanbul alone.
Rather, this is about Muslims wanting to revel in the glory days of Islamic jihad and conquest.
Unlike historically-challenged Westerners, Muslims fully understand the significance of Hagia Sophia. Hagia Sophia—Greek for “Holy Wisdom”—was, in fact, Christendom’s greatest cathedral for almost one thousand years. Built in Constantinople, the heart of the ancient Christian empire, it was also a stalwart symbol of defiance against an ever encroaching Islam from the east.
After parrying centuries of jihadi thrusts, Constantinople was finally sacked by the Turks under Sultan Mehmet II on May 29, 1453. Its crosses desecrated and icons defaced, Hagia Sophia—as well as thousands of other churches—was converted into a victory mosque, the tall minarets of Islam surrounding it in triumph.
Reading the primary historic texts from the period is not unlike reading current headlines concerning Islamic State atrocities—the massacres, beheadings, rapes, enslavement of Christian “infidels” and the defilement of their churches. Writes an eyewitness to the 1453 Turkish conquest of Constantinople:
The enraged Turkish soldiers . . . gave no quarter. When they had massacred and there was no longer any resistance, they were intent on pillage and roamed through the town stealing, disrobing, pillaging, killing, raping, taking captive men, women, children, old men, young men, monks, priests, people of all sorts and conditions… There were virgins who awoke from troubled sleep to find those brigands standing over them with bloody hands and faces full of abject fury… [The Turkish jihadis] dragged them, tore them, forced them, dishonored them, raped them at the cross-roads and made them submit to the most terrible outrages…
Tender children were brutally snatched from their mothers’ breasts and girls were pitilessly given up to strange and horrible unions, and a thousand other terrible things happened. . .
Temples [including Hagia Sophia] were desecrated, ransacked and pillaged . . . sacred objects were scornfully flung aside, the holy icons and the holy vessels were desecrated…. Immense numbers of sacred and profane books were flung on the fire or torn up and trampled under foot.
This is what Turkey’s Muslims are proud of. Salih Turhan, head of the Anatolian Youth Association, the group that annually organizes mass demonstrations around Hagia Sophia, boasts that, “As the grandchildren of Mehmet the Conqueror, seeking the re-opening Hagia Sophia as a mosque is our legitimate right.”
Turks know full well that Mehmet was the scourge of European Christendom; that his hordes seized and ravished Constantinople, forcibly turning it into Islamic Istanbul; that he had the fallen corpse of the Christian emperor, Constantine, who refused to forsake his besieged city, beheaded, mutilated, and mocked. Openly idolizing Mehmet and other sultans, as many Turks do, is tantamount to their saying, “We are proud of our ancestors who slaughtered, beheaded, enslaved and raped people and stole their lands simply because they were Christian ‘infidels.’”
More contemporarily, it’s tantamount to their saying “We are proud of our fellow Sunni Muslims of the Islamic State—who are currently slaughtering, beheading, enslaving, and raping people simply because they are Christian “infidels.”
Such pride in Islamic atrocities goes all the way to the top in Turkey, to President Erdogan, who claims that the jihadi conquest of Constantinople was the true “time of enlightenment.”
Still, none of this stops Turks from claiming victim status. The Anatolian Youth Association still manages to blame the West: “Keeping Hagia Sophia Mosque closed is an insult to our mostly Muslim population of 75 million. It symbolizes our ill-treatment by the West.”
So keeping a historically Christian/Western building—that was stolen by bloody jihad—as a museum is seen as “ill-treatment by the West.”
Similarly, last April, after Pope Francis accurately referred to the mass slaughter of Armenians by Ottoman Turks as “the first genocide of the 20th century,” Ankara’s highest Islamic authority responded by saying that the Pope’s remarks “will only accelerate the process for Hagia Sophia to be re-opened for [Muslim] worship.”
Such is the Islamic world’s double standards: when Muslims conquer non-Muslim territories, such as Constantinople and its churches—through fire and steel, with all the attendant human suffering and misery—the descendants of those conquered are not to expect any apologies or concessions—not even a building.
However, once the same Muslims who would never concede an inch of Islam’s conquests are on the short end of the stick—Palestinians vis-à-vis Israel, for example—then they resort to the United Nations and the court of public opinion, demanding “justice,” “restitution,” “human rights,” and so forth.
It’s a testimony to the blindness and historic ignorance of the West that more people are not onto this old Muslim game yet.
A sign of the times! Foreboding!
While we grow increasingly ashamed of our military history, Islam is growing increasingly proud – increasingly proud of their treachery, their ruses, their crushing and wiping out of superior cultures. There was no Geneva Convention, no Hague Convention, no international law when they burst into Constantinople and had their way with the population; nor is there any for ISIS. The most glorious part of war for them is not when they must contend with a foe that can fight back but the part they call “spoils”. The part after the fighting when they can do anything, absolutely anything, they want without reproach. That is what they want: to be free of the reproach they have suffered since the fall of the Ottoman Empire. Spoils is halal. There is even a Sura named for it.
Exactly! And America and the West are supporting muslims to do all that!
Shame on the West!
You mean Barry Soetoro aka Obama the Muslim and all the Political Cowardness, O, I mean Correctness in the Government!
It’s quite sickening to see and witnessed the “Political Leaders” in our Western Countries (Like Canada which is where I live) Lying (Deceiving) it’s Own Citizens and put Everyone “Lives” in Danger because they’re Scared to offend Muslims (which are a Tiny minority) so they’re “SILENT” as well as the “EneMedia” on every “ISSUES” involving Islam! It’s like they want us to believe that every Terrorist Attacks are done by Unknown extremists or radicals (names used by the Medias) instead of telling the viewers the Truth which are Muslims “Fighting Jihad” (called Mujahideen) For The Sake Of Allah according to the teachings of their so called prophet of war MuhamMAD!
The Beautiful Works Muslims Have Done In The Last Few Years For The Sake Of Allah:
Garissa University College Massacre of 147 Students in Kenya were Muslims (al-Shabaab Group).
Charlie Hebdo Shooting: 12 Killed at Muhammad Cartoons Magazine in Paris were Muslims
The Peshawar (Pakistan) School Massacre Of 134 Children were Taliban Muslims.
The Massacre of 45 Hostage Burned to Death on February 17th 2015 were Muslims (ISIS Group)
The Shoe Bomber was a Muslim
The Bali bomb Attacks were Muslims.
The Beltway Snipers were Muslims
The Fort Hood Shooter was a Muslim
The Underwear Bomber was a Muslim
The U.S.S. Cole Bombers were Muslims
The Madrid Train Bombers were Muslims
The Bali Nightclub Bombers were Muslims
The London Subway Bombers were Muslims
The Moscow Theater Attackers were Muslims
The Boston Marathon Bombers were Muslims
The Pan-am Flight #93 Hijackers were Muslims
The Iranian Embassy Takeover was by Muslims
The Libyan U.S. Embassy Attack were Muslims
The Air France Entebbe Hijackers were Muslims
The Beirut U.S. Embassy Bombers were Muslims
The Buenos Aires Suicide Bombers were Muslims
The Israeli Olympic Team Attackers were Muslims
The Kenyan U.S. Embassy Bombers were Muslims
The Saudi, Khobar Towers Bombers were Muslims
The Beirut Marine Barracks Bombers were Muslims
The Besian Russian School Attackers were Muslims
The First World Trade Center Bombers were Muslims
The Achille Lauro Cruise Ship Hijackers were Muslims
The Bombay and Mumbai India Attackers were Muslims
The September 11th 2001 Airline Hijackers were Muslims
The Airport Bombers In Southern Thailand were Muslims
The Portland Christmas Tree Bomb Plotter was a Muslims
The American Airlines Flight #77 Hijackers were Muslims
The Nyanya Motor Park Bombers in Nigeria were Muslims
The Westgate Kenya Shopping Mall Attackers were Muslims
The Volgograd Train Station & Bus Suicide Bombers were Muslims
The Failed Car Bomb Plotter In NY Times Square in 2010 was a Muslim
The Failed Plot To Derail A Via Rail Passenger Train In Toronto, Canada were Muslims
The Failed Toronto [Canada] 18 Bomb Plotter In 2006 was a Muslim
The Beheading of The British Soldier In The Street Of Woolwich was a Muslim
The Bus #405 Suicide Attack was a Muslim
The Mehola Junction Bombing were Muslims
The Beit El Car Bombing was a Muslim
The Afula Bus Suicide Bombing was a Muslim
The Hadera Bus Station Suicide Bombing was a Muslim
The Dizengoff Street Bus Bombing was a Muslim
The Netzarim Junction Bicycle Bombing was a Muslim
The Jerusalem Binyanei Hauma Suicide Bombing was a Muslim
The Beit Lid Massacre were Muslims
The Kfar Darom Bus [Suicide] Attack was a Muslim
The Ramat Gan Bus #20 [Suicide] Bombing was a Muslim
The Ramat Eshkol Bus [Suicide] Bombing was a female Muslim
The Ashkelon Bus Station Bombing was a Muslim
The First Jerusalem Bus #18 Suicide Bombing was a Muslim
The Second Jerusalem Bus #18 Suicide Bombing was a Muslim
The Dizengoff Center Suicide Bombing in Tel Aviv was a Muslim
The Café Apropo Bombing in Tel Aviv was a Muslim
The 1st Mahane Yehuda Market Attack in Jerusalem was a Muslim
The Ben Yehuda Street Bombing in Jerusalem were Muslims
The 1st Kfar Darom Bombing was a Muslim
The Jerusalem Double Suicide Bombers in 1998 were Muslims
The Egged Bus #960 Bombing was a Muslim
The Haifa Central Bus Station Bombing was a Muslim
The Gaza Bombing in 2000 was a Muslim
The 2nd Mahane Yehuda Market Attack was a Muslim
The 2nd Kfar Darom Bombing in Gaza Strip was a Muslim
The Hadera Main Street Bombing was a Muslim
The Mehola Bombing in Northern Jordan Valley was a Muslim
The Netanya Centre [Car] Bombing were Muslims
The Tayibe Bridge Bombing was a Muslim
The Beit Yisrael Bombing was a Muslim
The Mei Ami Junction Bombing was a Muslim
The Netanya [Suicide] Bombing was a Muslim
The Talpiot Industrial Zone Bombing were Muslims
The Egged Bus #6 [Suicide] Bombing was a Muslim
The Mifgash Shalom Attack was a Muslim
The Kfar Saba [Suicide] Bombing was a Muslim
The Or Yehuda Bombing were Muslims
The Nablus School Bus Bombing was a Muslim
The HaSharon Mall Suicide Bombing in Netanya, Israel was a Muslim
The Hadera Mall Bombing was a Muslim
The Hadera Bus Station Suicide Bombing was a Muslim
The Jerusalem Center Bombing were Muslims
The Jaffa Road Bombing was a Muslim
The Netanya School Bombing were Muslims
The Dolphinarium Discotheque Suicide Bombing was a Muslim
The Dugit Bombing were Muslims
The Yehud Suburb Bombing in Tel Aviv were Muslims
The Kissufim [Suicide] Bombing was a Muslim
The Binyamina Train Station Suicide Bombing was a Muslim
The Moshav Beka’ot Bombing was a Muslim
The Sbarro Restaurant Suicide Bombing was a Muslim
The Wall-Street Restaurant [Suicide] Bombing was a Muslim
The Russian Compound Bombing was a Muslim
The Jerusalem Car Bombings were Muslims
The Hanevi’im Street [Suicide] Bombing was a Muslim
The Nahariya Train Station Suicide Bombing was a Muslim
The Beit Lid Junction Bombing were Muslims
The Talpiot Neighborhood Bombing were Muslims
The 1st Erez Crossing Attack was a Muslim
The Kibbutz Shluhot [Suicide] Bombing was a Muslim
The 2nd Erez Crossing [Suicide] Attack was a Muslim
The 1st Egged Bus #823 [Suicide] Bombing was a Muslim
The Ben Yehuda Street [Two Suicide] Bombings were Muslims
The Haifa Bus #16 Suicide Bombing was a Muslim
The Hilton Mamilla Bombing was a Muslim
The Check Post Junction Bombing was a Muslim
The Neve Dekalim [Two Suicide] Bombings near Gaza Strip were Muslims
The Tel Aviv Outdoor Mall [Double Suicide] Bombings were Muslims
The Jaffa Street [Female Suicide] Bombing was a Muslim
The Tayibe [Bus] Bombing in Tel Aviv were Muslims
The Karnei Shomron Mall Suicide Bombing was a Muslim
The Maale Adumim – Jerusalem Road [Suicide] Bombing was a Muslim
The Efrat Supermarket [Suicide] Bombing Attack was a Muslim
The Maccabim (Checkpoint) [Female Suicide] Bombing was a Muslim
The Yeshivat Beit Yisrael Massacre in 2002 was a Muslim
The 2nd Egged Bus #823 Bombing was a Muslim
The Ariel Hotel Lobby [Suicide] Bombing in Samaria was a Muslim
The Café Moment [Suicide] Bombing in Jerusalem was a Muslim
The Egged Bus #22 [Suicide] Bombing was a Muslim
The 3rd Egged Bus #823 [Umm al-Fahm] Bombing was a Muslim
The King George Street [Suicide] Bombing in Jerusalem was a Muslim
The Passover [Seder] Massacre at the Park Hotel in Netanya, was a Muslim
The Kiryat HaYovel Supermarket Bombing was a Muslim
The Allenby Street Coffee Shop Cafe Bombing in Tel Aviv was a Muslim
The Baqa al-Gharbiyah Bombing was a Muslim
The Matza Restaurant Suicide Bombing was a Muslim
The Efrat [Emergency] Medical Center was a Muslim
The Jerusalem Roadblock Bombing was a Muslim
The Yagur Junction [Suicide] Bombing was a Muslim
The 3rd Mahane Yehuda Market Attack was a Muslim
The Rishon LeZion Bombing was a Muslim
The Netanya Market [Suicide] Bombing in 2002 was a Muslim
The Afula Road Bombing was a Muslim
The Rothschild Street Bombing was a Muslim
The Pi Glilot [LPG Depot] Bombing in Tel Aviv was a Muslim
The Studio 49 Disco Bombing was a Muslim
The Petah Tikva [Suicide] Mall Bombing was a Muslim
The Megiddo Junction [Suicide] Bus Bombing in Israel was a Muslim
The Herzliya Shawarma Restaurant [Suicide] Bombing was a Muslim
The Patt Junction Bus [Suicide] Bombing was a Muslim
The French Hill Junction [Suicide] Massacre was a Muslim
The Immanuel Bus No.189 Attack were Muslims
The Neve Shaanan Street Bombing was a Muslim
The Nevi’im Street Bombing was a Muslim
The Hebrew University Massacre was a Muslim
The Meron Junction Bus #361 Attack was a Muslim
The 1st Umm al-Fahm [Suicide] Bombing was a Muslim
The 2nd Umm al-Fahm [Suicide] Bombing was a Muslim
The Allenby Street Bus Bombing was a Muslim
The Geha Road Bombing was a Muslim
The Karkur Junction Suicide Bombings were Muslims
The Sonol Gas Station Bombing was a Muslim
The Kfar Saba Shopping Mall [Suicide] Bombing was a Muslim
The Kiryat Menachem Bus [Suicide] Bombing was a Muslim
The Tel-Aviv Central Bus Station Massacre were Muslims
The Haifa Bus #37 Suicide Bombing was a Muslim
The London Cafe Bombing in Netanya was a Muslim
The Kfar Saba [Nordeau] Train Station [Suicide] Bombing was a Muslim
The Mike’s Place Suicide Bombing in Tel Aviv was a Muslim
The Gross Square [Suicide] Attack was a Muslim
The Jerusalem Bus #6 [Suicide] Bombing was a Muslim
The 3rd Kfar Darom [Suicide] Bombing was a Muslim
The Afula Mall Bombing was a Muslim
The Netzarim Bus Bombing was a Muslim
The Davidka Square Bus Bombing was a Muslim
The Sdei Trumot Bombing was a Muslim
The Kfar Yavetz Bombing was a Muslim
The Ariel Bus Station Bombing was a Muslim
The Rosh HaAyin Bombing was a Muslim
The Shmuel HaNavi Bus Bombing was a Muslim
The Tzrifin Bus Stop Attack was a Muslim
The Café Hillel Bombing was a Muslim
The Maxim Restaurant Suicide Bombing was a Muslim
The Tulkarem [Suicide] Bombing was a Muslim
The Beit Hanoun Junction Bombing was a Muslim
The Azzoun Bombing was a Muslim
The Geha Interchange Bus Stop Bombing was a Muslim
The 3rd Erez Crossing Attack was a Muslim
The Gaza Street Bus Bombing was a Muslim
The Liberty Bell Park Bus Bombing was a Muslim
The 4th Erez Crossing Attack were Muslims
The Ashdod Port [Double Suicide Bombings] Massacre were Muslims
The 5th Erez Crossing Attack was a Muslim
The Deir al-Balah Suicide Attack was a Muslim
The Beka’ot Checkpoint Bombing was a Muslim
The Tel Aviv Bus Stop Bombing was a Muslim
The Kalandia Checkpoint Attack was a Muslim
The Beersheba Bus Line 6 and 12 [Double Suicide] Bombings were Muslims
The Baka al-Sharkiyeh Checkpoint Attack was a Muslim
The Kalandia Gate Suicide Bombing was a Muslim
The French Hill Junction Bombing was a Muslim
The Sinai Peninsula Bombings [in Egypt] were Muslims
The Carmel Market Bombing in Tel Aviv was a Muslim
The Karni [Border] Crossing Attack were Muslims
The Morag Attack was a Muslim
The Karni Border Crossing Attack was a Muslim
The Gush Katif Checkpoint Attack was a Muslim
The Stage Club [Suicide] Bombing in Tel Aviv was a Muslim
The 1st HaSharon Mall Suicide Bombing was a Muslim
The Beersheba Central Bus Station Bombing was a Muslim
The Hadera Market Bombing was a Muslim
The 2nd HaSharon Mall Suicide Bombing was a Muslim
The Tulkarem Roadblock Bombing were Muslims
The 1st Rosh Ha’ir [Shawarma] Restaurant Bombing in Tel Aviv was a Muslim
The Kedumim Bombing [in the West Bank] was a Muslim
The 2nd Rosh Ha’ir [Shawarma] Restaurant Bombing in Tel Aviv was a Muslim
The Eilat Bakery [Suicide] Bombing in Israel was a Muslim
The Dimona [Suicide] Bombings were Muslims
The Kerem Shalom [3 Palestinian] Suicide Bombings were Muslims
The 2011 Abuja United Nations [Suicide] Bombing was a Muslim
The Urumqi Car and Bomb Attack in a Market In China were Muslims
The Fish Vendor Massacre In Nigeria were (Boko Haram) Muslims
The Northern Kenya Bus Attack were (Al-Shabaab) Muslims
“WHEN YOU MEET THE UNBELIEVERS, SMITE THEIR NECKS, then when you have made wide slaughter among them, tie fast the bonds, then set them free, either by grace or ransom, until the war lays down its burdens”. Quran: 47:4
“Prophet! MAKE WAR ON THE UNBELIEVERS [Non-Muslims] and the Hypocrites and deal sternly with them. Hell shall be their home, evil their fate”. Quran 66:9
THE KORAN IS A BOOK OF HATE, DEATH AND DESTRUCTION
Turks will be Turks – no surprises here. They should never be allowed into the EU.
Islam is evil, period!
“he had the fallen corpse of the Christian emperor, Constantine, who
refused to forsake his besieged city, beheaded, mutilated, and mocked.”
This is the Ottoman claim. It’s more likely that Constantine disappeared in the fighting and they picked a random body to defile.
US/NATO are fully aware of Turkey’s horrifying, satanic huge genocides of Christians. It’s why they made bloodthirsty, Christian-hater Turkey a member of NATO.
Wow the author verbalises my views exactly. That’s why I am on the side of Israel. I believe that the Temple Mount should be returned to the Jews!
Some of the most stupid people on earth.