The Priest's 'Commander' calls on the US to take action for Hagia Sophia and the Patriarchate!..

July 24 marked both the 103rd anniversary of the Treaty of Lausanne and the 6th anniversary of Hagia Sophia's reopening as a mosque.

While Erdoğan and his team forgot to commemorate Lausanne (a draft message was only posted on the Presidential website 24 hours later, and this error was corrected a day later), message after message was published and speeches were made for Hagia Sophia.

The Presidential Directorate of Communications also organized a program titled “The Emblem of Conquest, the Heart of Civilization: Hagia Sophia, the Sanctuary That Transcends Ages.” The first speaker was Communications Director Burhanettin Duran. Duran explained that “Hagia Sophia is the emblem of the conquest of Istanbul” and that “Fatih Sultan Mehmed led the way in restoring Hagia Sophia immediately after the conquest,” adding, “For us, the reopening of Hagia Sophia to worship was like a Red Apple (Kızılelma)... Thanks to President Erdoğan's determined leadership and the nation's strong will, the Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque has regained its original identity.”

Now, let us go to the other side of the world, to Australia and the USA.

On Sunday, there was a ceremony at the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese in Australia, attended by a deputy minister from the Greek Cypriot administration and other Greek officials. While Archbishop Makarios prayed for the reunification of Cyprus, he stated that “the bridge being built must be strengthened not only with Cyprus, but also with Greece and Constantinople, the center of the church.”

Archbishop Elpidophoros of the Greek Orthodox Church in America also spoke about the anniversary of our July 20 Cyprus Peace Operation, calling it “the illegal occupation and invasion carried out by Turkey 52 years ago”... He reaffirmed his “unwavering solidarity” with Cyprus and stated that they would continue to strive for the reunification of the island.

In his “Hagia Sophia commemoration day” circular published on July 24, Elpidophoros stated that “Hagia Sophia has been dedicated to a foreign purpose” but that it “continues to shine through the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople,” adding, “Even if we have been deprived of the physical structure of Hagia Sophia, everything it represents is a living symbol, present in the person of the holy Patriarch Bartholomew.”

These are not Elpidophoros's first actions. On every anniversary, he has claimed that we are “occupiers” in Cyprus and accepted May 19 as the so-called “Pontic genocide day.” When Hagia Sophia was opened for worship, he organized anti-Turkey campaigns in the US and mobilized the Trump administration.

What does it matter to us what these two priests on the other side of the world do? Both are priests appointed by the Fener Greek Patriarchate—a Turkish institution according to Lausanne—in violation of Lausanne, and they continue to operate under the Patriarchate... And supposedly Patriarch Bartholomew is a Turkish citizen, but for some reason, he never intervenes in these matters!..

First the Patriarchate, Then Hagia Sophia

We want to bring up another name as important as those two priests: Dr. Anthony J. Limberakis. A Pennsylvania-based radiologist and member of the “Order of St. Andrew,” Limberakis is also the “national commander” of the “Archons of the Ecumenical Patriarchate,” which aims to realize Greece's “Megali İdea” and acts as a kind of “state/government” model, and he has been serving under the “Ecumenical Patriarchate” since 1988.

So much so that in 2023, Patriarch Bartholomew, in addition to his “25 years of service,” awarded Dr. Limberakis a medal, describing him as a “Grand Archon” for his “support for the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the Mother Church of Constantinople.”

Let us recall just a few of the many actions of Limberakis, who is also influential over the US administration:

In November 2005, he came to Ankara with Andrew Manatos, the “Washington Regional Commander” of the Archons, and met with the then-US Ambassador Ross Wilson to discuss the issue of “religious freedoms.” The prominent topics in the meeting were complaints or demands such as: “Turkey does not recognize the ecumenicity of the Patriarchate for legal reasons... The seizure of the Patriarchate's properties continues... Patriarch Bartholomew is not just the priest of Istanbul, he is the leader of the Orthodox in the world, but Turkey rejects the ‘ecumenical’ title... Turkey interferes in the Ecumenical Patriarchate elections and insists that the people to be elected must be Turkish citizens... Turkey refuses to open the Halki Seminary, which was forcibly closed in 1971.”

At that time, there was also a signature campaign launched for the reopening of Hagia Sophia, which Greeks and the Greek Orthodox consider a “second Jerusalem,” and for making this a condition of Turkey's EU membership. In his call regarding this campaign, Dr. Limberakis defended similar views about Hagia Sophia but stated that he found the timing of the campaign wrong, saying, “Our priority should be resolving the problems of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. For this, donate to the Order of St. Andrew and take legal initiatives before courts, the US, Europe, and Middle Eastern administrations in the face of the pressures on the Patriarchate.”

Reaction to Burhanettin Duran

This is the person who made a long statement in his capacity as the “National Commander of the Archons of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, authorized by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew to defend the religious freedoms, human rights, and institutional integrity of the Mother Church of Orthodox Christianity.”

In this statement, which targeted the Hagia Sophia program organized by the Presidential Directorate of Communications, Dr. Limberakis—the “commander” of Bartholomew, who both complains about Turkey to the “American and international public” and warns the government through the speech of Communications Director Burhanettin Duran, saying, “We reiterate our call to the state and institutions for the protection of religious minorities”—claimed that Duran's words were “contrary to historical and legal facts,” and noted the following in summary:

- “Hagia Sophia was consecrated in 537, during the reign of Emperor Justinian I, as the cathedral church of Constantinople and the center of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. The structure maintained its status as the primary church of Eastern Christianity for 916 years—that is, for almost a millennium—before being converted into a mosque by Sultan Mehmed II with the conquest of Constantinople in 1453. Therefore, the Christian identity of the structure dates back almost a thousand years earlier than its Ottoman identity; presenting Hagia Sophia as a structure essentially belonging to ‘Islamic civilization’ without taking into account the nine centuries that preceded it is not only an incomplete approach but also a deliberate erasure of the historical record.”

- “The 2020 decision, issued unilaterally by the Council of State of Turkey and the President, which changed its 86-year museum status... cannot be accepted as a binding source of law in a democratic republic of the 21st century, as it is based on a foundation deed (waqfiyya) from the conquest era to fulfill the obligations undertaken by a modern state in its capacity as the guardian of a world heritage site.”

In the continuation of his statement, he again brought up the Patriarchate and the Seminary. Pointing to the “structural restrictions” included in the US Department of State's Religious Freedom Reports regarding Turkey, Dr. Limberakis stated that the closure of the Seminary was at the top of these, adding, “Although the 2026 report states that the dialogue regarding the reopening of the Halki Seminary continued in 2025, dialogue and the resolution of the problem are not the same thing. Indeed, the celebration of the sixth anniversary of the change in Hagia Sophia's status, which took place in the same year that this dialogue was conducted, gives a clear message about the government's priorities.”

He also claimed that these were “vivid characteristics of how a NATO ally and EU membership candidate country treats the oldest continuously operating Christian institution within its borders,” and listed his other complaints as follows:

“The non-recognition of the Patriarchate's ecumenical title in Turkish law... The restrictions imposed on the election and nationality requirements of the Patriarch and the Holy Synod... Unresolved disputes over confiscated church properties.”

Complaint to the US

Then, while arguing that “as Archons, they do not question Turkey's sovereignty over its own territory,” he made the following demands to the US Department of State, the US Congress, and the Commission on International Religious Freedom regarding Hagia Sophia and the Patriarchate:

- “A UNESCO world heritage site of unique importance for 13 centuries of Christian history should not be repeatedly and publicly reshaped in state-sponsored programs as a monument of religious conquest, without including the faith community that worshipped there and built it for nine hundred years before 1453. This anniversary program should be taken into account in future contacts with Ankara and in reports to be prepared.”

- “We request that they take initiatives through the usual channels of bilateral diplomacy for the reopening of the Halki Seminary, the legal recognition of the Ecumenical Patriarchate title and the right of the Patriarchate to elect the Patriarch and Synod members without any nationality restrictions, and the resolution of outstanding property-related claims.”

What Did Greece Do on July 24?

While the men of Patriarch Bartholomew, who is always hosted in the front row at the Palace, are reaching into the heart of Turkey like this, and while the leaders of a host of countries, especially Greece, come to “Constantinople” for the “Ecumenical Patriarchate” with ease, let us end with another event that took place on July 24.

That day was the 31st anniversary of the death of Dr. Sadık Ahmet, the leader of the Western Thrace Turks, who lost his life in a suspicious traffic accident. Özcan Pehlivanoğlu, the Vice Chairman of the Victory Party (Zafer Partisi) responsible for the Balkans, also wanted to attend the commemoration ceremony in Komotini. However, he was turned back from the Greek border on the grounds of “disturbing public order.”

Pehlivanoğlu naturally asked, “How can one person disturb public order on his own?” and interpreted the real reason for not being allowed into Greece as follows:

“We firmly argue that the Halki Seminary should not be opened. We absolutely reject the ‘ecumenicity’ claim of Bartholomew, the Chief Priest of the Fener Greek Church... Bartholomew may have made an initiative saying, ‘This man is working against us, do not let him into Greece.’”

Pehlivanoğlu also called on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Minister Fidan not to remain silent in the face of this treatment by Greece toward a Turkish citizen.

But they remained silent...

Let's see, while Trump himself has asked Erdoğan to open the Seminary; will the Ministry or the Presidential Directorate of Communications show any reaction to Bartholomew's “commander” complaining about Turkey to the US over Hagia Sophia and the Patriarchate?!

Müyesser YILDIZ

July 31, 2026