Mosques, Museums and Politics: The Fate of Hagia Sophia

Mosques, Museums and Politics: The Fate of Hagia Sophia

When the caustic Evelyn Waugh visited the majestic sixth century creation of Emperor Justinian, one subsequently enlarged, enriched and encrusted by various rulers, he felt underwhelmed. “‘Agia’ will always win the day for one,” he wrote of Istanbul’s holiest of holies, Hagia Sophia, in 1930. “A more recondite snobbism is to say ‘Aya Sofia’, but…

Hagia Sophia: Clash of Civilizations or Reassertion of Civilizational Identity?

Hagia Sophia: Clash of Civilizations or Reassertion of Civilizational Identity?

Turkey’s controversial decision to reconvert Hagia Sophia from a museum into a mosque has been met with sharp criticism abroad from those who claim that it’ll exacerbate the so-called “Clash of Civilizations” and reverse the secular reforms of Ataturk while supporters of this move claim that it’s a justified reassertion of civilizational identity in an…

Okay! The US Does Not Want the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan Railway

Okay! The US Does Not Want the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan Railway

If you live in the United States the mention of a country like Kyrgyzstan or Uzbekistan probably only registers on a subconscious “movie memory” level. Or, you assume all those countries with “stan” at the end are the same – foreign, off this world, and too far distant to matter. Unless, of course, you work…