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Is this the end of Turkish secularism?
Author: Pinar Trembley
Publication Date: 24/7/2020
Source: Al-Monitor
The Hagia Sophia opened for Muslim prayer on July 24. As the world grapples with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s abrupt decision, many opposition figures have fallen in line to congratulate the decision.
One can understand the enthusiasm of the Islamist Felicity Party or Erdogan’s coalition partner Nationalist Movement Party, whose bases share strong feelings about the museum turning into a mosque. However, other parties’ reactions are more surprising.
Istanbul's Hagia Sophia holds first Friday prayers since reconversion to mosque
Author: Amberin Zaman
Publication Date: 24/7/2020
Source: Al-Monitor
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan capped 18 years of uninterrupted Justice and Development Party rule today by fulfilling his long-cherished dream of holding Friday prayers in the Hagia Sophia, the glorious domed edifice built by the Byzantines as a cathedral in the sixth century. Today’s ceremony followed the Hagia Sophia's formal conversion from a museum to a full-service mosque July 10. Thousands of faithful brandishing Turkish flags and chanting "God is Great" streamed from across the country to celebrate the historic reversal of the Hagia Sophia’s status.
Hagia Sophia: Ataturk and the rich Americans who changed icon's fate
Author: Yildiray Ogur
Publication Date: 23/7/2020
Source: Middle East Eye
As expected, Turkey’s Council of State earlier this month repealed the 1934 cabinet decision that turned the Hagia Sophia into a museum.
In doing so, it overturned a decision by the founding fathers of the republic, including Mustafa Kemal Ataturk; Ismet Inonu, a Turkish general and statesman who served as the second president of Turkey from 1938 to 1950; and Celal Bayar, third president of Turkey who served from 1950-60.
Palestinians accuse Israel of stealing 1,500-year-old Christian relic from Bethlehem
Author: Keith Darnay
Publication Date: 20/7/2020
Source: Christian Daily Journal
Video footage posted by the PLO showed Israeli forces taking the Byzantine-era artefact from a West Bank town in the middle of the night
PLO accuses Israel of stealing Christian artifact from Bethlehem
Publication Date: 21/7/2020
Source: The New Arab
A senior Palestinian official on Monday accused Israel of stealing a historical Christian artifact from the West Bank city of Bethlehem.
Christian clergy: Israel’s West Bank plans could be ‘catastrophic’
Publication Date: 8/7/2020
Source: Palestinian Return Centre
The threatened Israeli annexation of territory in the West Bank and the Jordan Valley could be “the final straw” for a viable Christian presence in Palestine, said a group of local Christian clergy, reported the Union of Catholic Asian News.
Christians face the pandemic in Palestine
Author: Andrea Gagliarducci
Publication Date: 15/7/2020
Source: Catholic News Agency
Facing the global coronavirus pandemic, Palestine has “the special and unique challenges of being under colonialism and a touristic country,” a Palestinian Catholic from the Bethlehem area told CNA.
Coptic Church celebrates anniversary of Christ’s entry into Egypt
Publication Date: 3/6/2020
Source: Egypt Independent
Pope Tawadros II of the Coptic Orthodox Church attended Monday rites celebrating the feast of the arrival of Jesus Christ and his family into Egypt, at the Church of Virgin Mary in Maadi.
Tawadros prayed at the altar located on the staircase on which the Holy Family descended to the waters of the Nile. He then walked through the archaeological corridor which extends from the church to the shore of the Nile.
The rituals included Tawadros casting holy water in the Nile after the end of Mass.
