Archdiocese of America: The US government should be concerned about the conversion of the Monastery of Chora

The Orthodox Archdiocese of America strongly condemned the conversion of the Monastery of Chora in Istanbul into a mosque and underlined that the US government “should be concerned by these developments.”

It notes that these types of measures “contrary to a long-recognized principle of complete separation of church and state” and also “have the potential to undermine human rights and freedoms and to sanction the weaponization of religion.”

“It is with heavy hearts that we received the news of the official announcement of the Turkish government on the conversion of the Monastery of Chora, a beacon of cultural heritage accessible to all, from a museum to a mosque, where the brilliant iconography is now being covered up for an alien purpose,” the Archdiocese of America said in a statement on Wednesday.

As it is recalled, this decision follows the seizure and repurposing of Hagia Sophia as a mosque, and it “strikes a dissonant note in the symphony of mutual respect and understanding among people of all faiths.”

“We call on the Turkish government to reconsider the decision to convert the Chora Monastery, recognizing the seriousness of this action and its implications, especially since the world center of Orthodoxy, the Ecumenical Patriarchate, is located in Istanbul, and in a country where many of its citizens belong to other religions and denominations,” the Archdiocese of America said.

Four years after his government designated it an Islamic place of worship, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan presided remotely Monday at a ceremony for the reopening of the Church of the Holy Savior in Chora, known in Turkish as Kariye, as a mosque.