OSMTH Notes Concerns About the Hagia Sophia
George MacLean GCSG GCTJ
International Grand Commander

As an international NGO in Special Consultative Status with the United Nations ECOSOC, OSMTH includes in our advocacy interests a policy to, “promote the preservation and restoration of historic buildings, particularly those associated with sites of Christian pilgrimage.”

Over the last few weeks OSMTH has taken note that:
Ernesto Ottone Ramírez, UNESCO Assistant Director-General for Culture reported that UNESCO has sent a letter at the beginning of June which stressed that the Convention on World Cultural Heritage stipulates that, before any decision can be taken to change the status of a Cultural Heritage Monument such as the Hagia Sophia, a decision of the relevant UNESCO Intergovernmental Committee is required;

and that:
the United States Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom, Sam Brownback, has stated that: “the Hagia Sophia holds enormous spiritual and cultural significance to billions of believers of different faiths around the world,” and expressed the hope that the decision will be to “maintain it as a UNESCO World Heritage site and to maintain accessibility to all”;

and that:
the Ecumenical Patriarch, Bartholomew, of Constantinople in the Eastern Orthodox Church has cautioned about the impact on inter-faith relationships of any change of status for the Hagia Sophia; and OSMTH joins with the sentiments expressed by the Ecumenical Patriarch in his “hope that wisdom and reason will ultimately prevail” in any decision that is taken.

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