In the 10th century, visitors were dazzled at the sight of the central dome of Hagia Sophia, covered with millions of gold tiles. "We did not know where we were, in paradise or on Earth", said the Rousskié of Kiev. Eleven centuries later, Erdogan "the conqueror" has just brought it back into the fold of the Muslims, offering himself a stroke of glory that will go down in history. The basilica is the symbol of the Christian past of the Eastern Roman Empire until its invasion by the Ottomans. The new sultan struck a double blow: he created a political diversion and, above all, he thus saw the culmination, after eighteen years of reign, of his Islamo-nationalist dream.
Erdogan follows in the footsteps of Mehmet II who, on the evening of his conquest of Constantinople in 1453, went to the Christian basilica to convert it to the Muslim ritual. The message is clear: the Ottoman Empire will be the new model for contemporary Turkey. The secular country of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, who transformed the mosque
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