Explanation: After the Ottoman conquest of the Byzantine Empire, the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul was converted into a mosque. This has been a sore point for many Orthodox Christians since.

Of course, Christians had destroyed and converted many Graeco-Roman temples by force in the past. But that was okay, because they were True Religion and the PAGANS were Bad Religion. That a new religion was doing it to Christians was totally unfair and unprecedented 😭

Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, founder of the Republic of Turkiye, converted the Hagia Sophia into a museum, acknowledging respect for its history in both faiths and establishing a tradition of secularism in the country.

Recently, the Islamist government of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Turkiye re-converted it back to a mosque as a stunt to show just how ‘faithful’ they are and show those filthy secular types what for.