Opinion
Dialogue –
Australia’s Treasurer points to hard-hitting COVID-19 restrictions
The restrictions announced on Sunday will hit all Victorians hard. We love our state and the simple but treasured things that make up our daily lives — going to the …
Relative of former St Basil’s resident says compromised care ‘not our experience’
The events that have unfolded over the last couple of weeks at St Basil’s have been heartbreaking to say the least, but more shocking to our family are the stories …
“Thanasis [Spanos] embodied filotimo”
A man known for his ‘larger than life personality’, Thanasis Spanos passed peacefully and surrounded by family on Friday. But his loss is mourned not only by relatives, but also …
Dialogue –
The US is a whole lot richer because of trade with Europe, regardless of whether EU is friend or ‘foe’
President Donald Trump recently questioned the value of the long-standing United States-Europe alliance. When asked to identify his “biggest foe globally,” he declared: “I think the European Union is a …
Dialogue –
Who does Hagia Sophia belong to? Turning it into a mosque is at odds with its UNESCO status
The Hagia Sophia has just opened to receive Sunni Muslim worshippers for the first time since 1931. The decision to convert the building in Istanbul, Turkey from a museum back …
Dialogue –
Citizenship, cities and coronavirus: Measures to protect human life
On 23 January, the government of the People’s Republic of China imposed a quarantine on the central Chinese city of Wuhan, population eleven million. The quarantine measures, designed to counter …
Life –
The cost of staying silent on Hagia Sophia
The date 24 July 2020 will go down in modern Turkish history as the day Turkey buried its founder Kemal Ataturk’s secular legacy. For Christians, the day will hitherto represent …
Dialogue –
Hagia Sophia reactions on mosaics, whores and prostitutes
I freely admit to deriving much enjoyment from listening to Sakarya University History Professor Ebubekir (P)sofuoğlu’s (the P may or may not be silent) enlightened ruminations. The depth of learning …
Dialogue –
Why Hagia Sophia remains a potent symbol of spiritual and political authority
Since its origins in the sixth century A.D, the Hagia Sophia has served as a church, a mosque, and, since 1934, a museum. But on July 10, the Turkish government …
Dialogue –
Hagia Sophia’s conversion to a mosque is as much an affront to Kemal as it is to Christianity
To the world, the Hagia Sophia museum is a hologram monument that belongs to all and means different things to different people depending on their perspective. For nationalist Turks, Hagia …