The General Assembly of the Department of Philology of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens expresses the sadness and disappointment of its members at the decision of the President of the Republic of Turkey to convert once again into an Islamic mosque the early Byzantine Christian Cathedral of the Wisdom of God, known by its original Greek name as Hagia Sophia, which was built in its present architectural form in the sixth century by the Byzantine/East Roman Emperor Justinian I. This action, which in our view was incited by mentalities of the past, long considered outdated as far as European civilisation is concerned, can only be evaluated as retrogression in relation to the previous status of the building as a museum, by which it was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List. The systematic attempt at misrepresentation and obfuscation of Byzantine history, not only of this monument but also of a series of Byzantine churches of the same name in Turkey over the last few years, has led to tampering with the Byzantine phase of the monuments and alterations of their physiognomy incompatible with a modern view of culture, law and justice. The Department of Philology, which serves Greek civilisation and its study in its historical course, from antiquity to the Byzantine, post-Byzantine and modern periods, adopted from the very start the relevant announcement of the Greek Committee of Byzantine Studies, representing Greek Byzantinistis, which it had already uploaded on its own website on 17 June 2020. Now the Department joins its voice with those of all other scholarly institutions in Greece and abroad as well as that of the Senate and other Departments of the University of Athens, which have already publicly denounced this act. It also supports the initiative of our University to bring to the international fora in which it participates the issue of the protection of this monument, which is most significant not only for Turkish but also for Greek history and self-consciousness.
