Religion in Turkey

土耳其的宗教

Erasing the Christian past

抹煞基督教的历史

A fine Byzantine church in Turkey has been converted into a mosque

土耳其一座精致的拜占庭教堂成了清真寺

Jul 27th 2013 | TRABZON |From the print edition

Sinful paintings on the ceiling?

天花板上的水彩画有罪吗？

ON JULY 5th the mufti of Trabzon gathered with other citizens for the first Friday prayers of the holy fasting month of Ramadan, not at a mosque but at an ancient Byzantine church. The gathering was a symbolic re-enactment of the conquest in 1462 of this ancient Greek Black Sea port by Mehmet II, the Ottoman sultan who had wrested Constantinople from the Byzantines in 1453. He marked his victory by converting the Haghia Sophia cathedral of today’s Istanbul into a mosque.

7月5日特拉布宗的穆夫提和其他居民一道参加斋月的一个星期五礼拜，他们聚会的地方不是清真寺而是一座古老的拜占庭教堂。这次集会象征性地重演了1462年奥斯曼苏丹穆罕默德二世攻占这个古老的希腊黑海港口。穆罕默德二世于1453年夺取了拜占庭的君士坦丁堡。为了纪念胜利，他把今天伊斯坦布尔的圣索菲亚大教堂变成一座清真寺。

Haghia Sophia’s sister of the same name in Trabzon is less grand. Yet with its dazzling frescoes and magnificent setting overlooking the sea, the 13th-century building is regarded as one of the finest examples of Byzantine architecture. As with other Christian monuments, the Haghia Sophia in Trabzon has become a symbol in the battle between secularists and Islamists. It was converted into a mosque around the 16th century and, after other incarnations, became a museum in 1964. But the Islamists won the last round in 2012 when a local court accepted the claim by the General Directorate of the Pious Foundations, the government body responsible for Turkey’s historic mosques, that the Haghia Sophia belonged to the foundation of Mehmet II and was being “illegally occupied” by the culture ministry.

特拉布宗也有圣索菲亚大教堂，其规模不如伊斯坦布尔的那座恢宏。它有精美的壁画，从这座教堂可以俯瞰大海。这座建于13世纪的教堂堪称拜占庭建筑的典范。特拉布宗的圣索菲亚大教堂还有其他的基督教遗迹成了世俗主义者和伊斯兰教徒冲突的象征。16世纪左右，这座教堂成了清真寺，1964年又变成了博物馆。最后还是伊斯兰教徒赢了，2012年当地法庭接受了虔信基金会总局提出（负责土耳其历史上有名的清真寺的政府机关）的诉求：圣索菲亚大教堂是穆罕默德二世创建的，正遭受文化部的“非法侵占”。

The decision provoked surprising anger in a city notorious for its ultra-nationalist views. “It’s about erasing the Christian past, reviving Ottomanism,” says a local historian. “There are enough mosques in Trabzon, half of them empty, what was the need?” chimes in Zeki Bakar, a neighborhood councillor. A lawsuit has been brought to undo the conversion.

这座城市因为极端民族主义观点而声名狼藉，这个决定叫人光火。当地的一位历史学家说：这是抹煞基督教的历史，复辟奥斯曼主义。Zeki Bakar的社区委员附和说：“特拉布宗的清真寺够用了，半数清真寺是空着的，还差这一个吗？”已经有人提出诉讼，要法庭改变这个决定。

Even so, the mildly Islamist Justice and Development (AK) government carried out the conversion in time for Ramadan. A red carpet now obscures exquisite floor mosaics. Shutters and tents beneath the central dome shield Muslim worshippers from “sinful” paintings of the Holy Trinity. Shiny steel taps with plastic stools for ablutions clutter a once-verdant garden filled with ancient sculptures.

即便如此，为了过斋月，温和的伊斯兰教正义和发展党掌权的政府还是把教堂变成了清真寺。现在红地毯盖上了地板上精致的图案。中央穹顶下面的百叶窗和帷幕把做礼拜的穆斯林和 “罪恶的”三位一体水彩画隔离开来。从前翠绿的花园里有古老的雕塑，现在为了斋戒沐浴，装了带着闪亮水龙头的塑料凳。

Mazhar Yildirimhan of the Pious Foundations Directorate’s office in Trabzon shrugs off complaints as propaganda. But for experts the conversion is tragic, and will inevitably lead to damaging the building. “It seems to follow closely that of Haghia Sophia in Iznik,” warns Antony Eastmond of the Courtauld Institute of Art, referring to another conversion.

虔信基金会总局驻特拉布宗办公室的Mazhar Yildirimhan对抗议不屑一顾，认为这种抗议在蛊惑人心。在专家看来，教堂变清真寺是个悲剧，必然会给这座建筑造成破坏。考特奥德艺术学院的Antony Eastmond警告说：“伊兹尼克的圣索菲亚教堂成为清真寺的日子可能不远了。”

All this is prompting anxiety that the Haghia Sophia in Istanbul “will be next”. These fears are overdone. Restoration work on the famous basilica has continued under a decade of AK rule and Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the prime minister, has dismissed worries about its fate. Yet Mr Yildirimhan makes no secret of his desire for a conversion, which he says is shared by fellow Muslims. “It was ordained by the sultan,” he says. “We have all the records.”

这些都让人们越发担忧伊斯坦布尔的圣索菲亚教堂“将成为下一个”。这些担心有点过头了。在伊斯兰教正义和发展党和总理雷杰普•塔伊普•埃尔多安十年执政期间，对著名大教堂的修复工作一直在持续。然而Yildirimhan先生没有掩饰把教堂变成清真寺的愿望，他说这也是穆斯林教胞的心愿：“这是苏丹下令建造的建筑，所有的记录我们都有。”