https://www.scmp.com/rss/329014/feed en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com After an 86-year pause, Friday prayers will resume at the Hagia Sophia this week, following Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s decree to convert Istanbul’s iconic museum back into a mosque. The decision, which has been greeted with dismay around the world, has been interpreted by many as an Islamist attempt to undo Turkey’s secularist legacy – Hagia Sophia’s status was changed from mosque to museum in 1934 by a cabinet order signed by the country’s secular founder, Mustafa Kemal... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/3094037/why-hagia-sophia-move-spells-trouble-turkeys-president-erdogan?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/3094037/why-hagia-sophia-move-spells-trouble-turkeys-president-erdogan?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 21 Jul 2020 08:00:10 +0000 The opposition’s landslide victory in Istanbul’s mayoral election rerun has spawned a new star on the Turkish political scene: Ekrem Imamoglu. The 49-year-old managed to break President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s quarter-century stranglehold on Turkey’s financial and commercial capital – and possibly the country – at a delicate time for the leader, who is confronting an anaemic economy and an insurgency in his own party. Ironically, Erdogan – whose campaign to overturn the result of the initial vote... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/3016554/turkey-erdogans-self-inflicted-wound-over-istanbul-election-rerun?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/3016554/turkey-erdogans-self-inflicted-wound-over-istanbul-election-rerun?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 30 Jun 2019 09:00:07 +0000 The Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s disappearance and alleged murder has erupted into a full-blown scandal after two weeks of grisly revelations, prompting US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to get on his horse and visit Riyadh and Ankara, where he has probably negotiated with both sides for a face-saving way to end a burgeoning crisis. That the Americans are finally stepping in after weeks on the sidelines makes sense, as this crisis is partly on them: lost in the ever escalating series of... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/diplomacy/article/2169324/crisis-over-jamal-khashoggis-disappearance-suggests-saudi-crown?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/diplomacy/article/2169324/crisis-over-jamal-khashoggis-disappearance-suggests-saudi-crown?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 19 Oct 2018 10:00:30 +0000