Senate Candidate Demands Return of Hagia Sophia to the Orthodox Church April 28, 2026
Senate Candidate Demands Return of Hagia Sophia to the Orthodox Church
Senate Candidate Demands Return of Hagia Sophia to the Orthodox Church
South Carolina US Senate candidate Mark Lynch pledged to impose severe economic sanctions on Turkey until the Hagia Sophia is returned to the Orthodox Church.
In a direct challenge to incumbent Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Lynch criticized the senator’s silence during the 2020 transition of the Hagia Sophia from a museum back into an active mosque by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
“Under Lindsey Graham’s watch, the Hagia Sophia was turned over to the Muslims in 2020,” Lynch stated. “Instead of challenging the handover, Senator Graham remained silent. He failed to leverage US influence or international pressure to stop what I consider an act of cultural theft.”
Lynch described the site’s status as “one of the greatest injustices in Christian history,” promising that, if elected, he would ensure the cathedral is returned to the jurisdiction of the Greek Orthodox Church.
Legislative proposal: “The Return the Hagia Sophia to the Church Act”
As the centerpiece of his primary campaign, Lynch announced he would introduce federal legislation titled The Return the Hagia Sophia to the Church Act. The bill’s key provisions include:
- Comprehensive trade embargo: A total ban on all US imports from Turkey, valued at approximately $17.52 billion in 2025, to remain in effect until ownership of the Hagia Sophia is transferred to the Greek Orthodox Church.
- Coalition building: A formal invitation for leaders from Orthodox, Catholic, and Protestant traditions to assemble at the US Capitol upon the bill’s introduction to galvanize legislative support.
Beyond the Hagia Sophia, Lynch framed his platform as a broader effort to combat the “takeover of Christian heritage sites” globally, while pledging to oppose similar perceived threats within the United States.
The Hagia Sophia, commissioned by Byzantine Emperor Justinian I and completed in 537 AD, served as the primary seat of the Ecumenical Patriarchate for nearly a millennium. Following the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople in 1453, it was converted into a mosque.
In 1935, under the secular reforms of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, it was designated a museum. Its 2020 redesignation as a mosque by President Erdogan drew significant international criticism, including an expression of “deep regret” from UNESCO.
This proposal marks a sharp escalation in Lynch’s primary challenge against Senator Graham.
We Ellines, without the Most Holy Orthodoxy, are worse than the Gypsies, worse than the Turks, worse than the Mongols, worse than the Slavs, worse than the Chinese, worse than the heretical Westerners, and even worse than the deicidal Jews.
Idolaters, scoundrels, impious, blasphemous, carnal pleasure-seekers, and antichrists.
We have only one thing, an inheritage combined strictly to our history and nothing else: the Most Holy Church, the Most Holy Orthodoxy!
And precisely for this reason, if we lose it, we will be worse than all those mentioned above, and we will suffer again what we suffered in 1204 and in 1453.
And this flag that our Orthodox brothers are holding proclaims, preaches, and cries out exactly this reality, inside the most representative and Most Holy institution of Orthodoxy — the Most Sacred, most revered, and most beautiful Temple of the Holy Wisdom of God Agia Sofia. This temple, which the blasphemous antichrist Turk-Mongols, for the sake of all those we mentioned above, turned into a detestable and antichrist mosque — the abomination of desolation where it ought not to be!
And instead of, through our repentance, returning the House of the Lord to its one true Owner — our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ — we are selling off the sacred heritage that was entrusted to us, to the franko-papo-latins and the ecumenists. The conductors in this blasphemous plan of theirs are the impious Jews, and its executive organs the turk-mongols via the papists.
Without being old calendarists or unknown zealots, we have understood very well — indeed, extremely well — what exactly "Orthodoxy or Death" means!
And so there are no more misunderstandings, we explain it one final time:
It means: Stop selling out the Faith of Truth. Stop betraying any longer that most precious and valuable which God has entrusted to us as our unique inheritance — to us humble as a unique nation in the world. We must keep it, guard it, and above all, spread out in the whole world!
But also means and explains something further more: That there is no excuse to anybody in the whole world to accept that Agia Sofia shall still be an antichrist mosque or a museum, because for this Major Orthodox Christian Temple to be a museum is a blaspheme secularization and even worse to be a mosque is the most and hiest blaspheme against God Himself and His Ekklesia: ''the abomination of desolation where it ought not to be!''
This is exactly what our beloved and much-cherished brother confessors did with their action. And we, with our stance, are insulting, blaspheming, showing indifference to, and betraying them!
THEY HAD THEIR PASCHA IN THE TOURKOMONGOL PRISON!!!
WHAT WERE WE SUPPOSED TO DO FOR THEM BLASPHEME ANTICHRISTS TRANSFORMING THE ORTHODOX ELLENIK HIGHEST TEMPLE OF AGIA SOFIA TO A FILTHY MOSQUE!!! THOSE BRUTAL INHUMAN SCAMBAG SHITS!!!
IN THE TURKOMONGOL PRISON! RELEASE OUR CHILDREN THEY HARMED NOBODY!!!
THEY CLAIMED ABOUT OUR HISTORICAL HOLY TEMPLE OF AGIA SOFIA NOT TO BE A MOSQUE ANYMORE!!!... NO MORE TOLERANCE!!!.. SPREAD THIS MESSAGE OUT TO ALL NATIONS ALL OVER THE WORLD REPOST IT COPY IT MAIL IT UNTILL THOSE BOGEYTROLL SCUMHEAD CHARACTERS RELEASE OUR INNOCENT CHILDREN!!!
REGARDING OUR CHILDREN WHOM THE TURKS ARRESTED!
RELEASE THEM IMMEDIATELY — THEY SHOULD HAVE BEEN FREED YESTERDAY!
Read the insults they have directed against us and give them no more space and no more tolerance!
Michael and Constantina Mazis are Orthodox Ellines Confessors of the Faith and the Fatherland.
They did what our Patriarchate and the Greek government have still not done: they made Hagia Sophia once again an Orthodox Holy Temple — while the others have left it to be turned into a mosque…
FREEDOM TO THE CONFESSORS FOR THE FAITH AND THE FATHERLAND, BROTHERS!!!
The names and the videos must be released both officially and immediately to the public! Our children must be freed as of yesterday! Our Patriot Confessors — who do not exist here among us in Ellas or Cyprus — come from Australia and from Northern Epirus (Konstantinos Katsifas, Aristotelis Goumas)!!!
HONOR TO OUR BROTHER AND SISTER MICHAEL AND CONSTANTINA MAZIS!!!
LONG LIVE ORTHODOX HELLENISM!!!
SO TAKE A GOOD LOOK BELOW WHAT EXACTLY THE ANTICHRIST AND FILTHY TURANMONGOLS DO WITH THEIR ASS SHEET FLAG INSULTING US...
YOU FILTHY MONGOL TRIBES LET OUR CHILDREN FREE TO GO HOME
OTHERWISE SINK IN YOUR OWN SHIT YOU SCUMBAGS!!!
THESE SCUMS PUT THEIR SHIT WHERE IT DOSEN'T BELONG ΙΝ CONTRAST TO US THAT JUST OPENED OUR ORTHODOX ELLENIK FLAG WIDE OPEN WHERE IT BELONGED FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS!!!
INTERNATIONAL PLEED!!! : MAKE AGIA SOFIA AN ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN TEMPLE AGAIN PLACING HER BACK TO HER HISTORY WHERE SHE BELONGED IN MILLENIUMS!!!
BELOW YOU SEE PART OF THEIR OFFENCES AGAINST THE ORTHODOX ELLENIK FLAG AND OUR FATHERLAND ELLAS!!!
THERE ARE WONDERFULL TRANSLATION A.I. MODES ALMOST IN EVERY BROWSER KEEP THE GOOD WORK STILL GOING ON.. MAKE THE DIFFERENCE.. TAKE DOWN THESE SHITS ONCE AND FOR ALL!!!
ARTICLE FROM ''ΝΕΟΣ ΚΟΣΜΟΣ''
Cousins Michael and Konstantina were arrested in Turkey after unfurling a Greek flag inside the Hagia Sophia. > "We never imagined we would find ourselves in this difficult position. Two of our own, Michael, a Greek-Australian, and his cousin Konstantina, from Greece, are currently detained in Istanbul following an incident that occurred inside the Hagia Sophia recently." These words come from a family post seeking the Greek community's help to secure the release of Michael and his cousin Konstantina. As previously reported in our English edition, two Greeks—a man and a woman—were arrested after the man opened a Greek flag inside the Hagia Sophia while the woman recorded it on video. The family's GoFundMe post states that the two cousins, 35-year-old Greek-Australian Michael and 42-year-old Konstantina, had traveled for a short Easter trip, intending to return to their jobs just a few days later. Instead, they have been in detention since April 10, and everything has come to a standstill. "All we want is for them to come home. They should have already returned, and every day that passes is very difficult for all of us. Both are professionals in their fields, with families and responsibilities waiting for them." > "What appears in the media is only part of the picture—the reality is much harder, in a foreign country, within a legal system they do not know." The family has already spoken with lawyers, and the costs are very high. Between fees, court expenses, translations, and other necessary expenses, the total cost is estimated to reach a six-figure amount. "We are starting with an initial goal to cover immediate legal costs, knowing that the total cost will likely be significantly larger as the case develops. This is why we are asking for your help. Any contribution will go exclusively to their legal expenses and whatever is needed to complete this process. Even a share can make a big difference." "We will keep you updated as the case progresses, with as much transparency as possible. Thank you warmly for your time and support."
Those wishing to help can find relevant information at the following link: [https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-michael-konstantina-with-legal-support-in-istanbul](https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-michael-konstantina-with-legal-support-in-istanbul) Upon learning about Michael and Konstantina's detention, *Neos Kosmos* decided to inform the office of Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, hoping for interventions with Turkish political leadership to secure the release of the two young people. According to our information, Michael Mazis was a chanter at the Church of Saint Panteleimon in Dandenong, Melbourne. Anastasios Mazis, Michael's father, told us that the slogan "Orthodoxy or Death," which appeared on the flag his son unfurled, was misinterpreted. "These words had nothing to do with inciting violence," he told *Neos Kosmos*. He emphasized to *Neos Kosmos* that his son and cousin had no intention of offending anyone. "It was Michael's first time in Turkey," says his father. "He didn't understand how strict the rules are in such places. There was no bad intention. Besides, they went on their own, not with a group. If they had gone with a group, they would have been warned." Michael, 35, a graduate in Economics and a Byzantine music chanter, traveled to Greece for Easter and then to Istanbul to experience Holy Week. With roots in Sparta, the trip held deep spiritual significance for him. His cousin Konstantina Mazis, who took the photo, was with him. The family states that both fully cooperated with authorities. > "Inside the Hagia Sophia, they cooperated with a female security officer, who let them leave. Then they were shocked when the next day they were arrested at their hotel. They didn't expect it would escalate to this extent," said Mr. Mazis. They were subsequently charged under provisions for inciting public hatred and offending a segment of the public, which are serious offenses under Turkish law. They even face up to four years in prison, as reported to *Neos Kosmos*. "We respect Turkey's laws," Mr. Anastasios told us. "We do not question that. We ask that it be treated as what it was: a simple misunderstanding." Both are currently in detention centers. "We don't want to escalate the situation," says Anastasios. "We ask for understanding. A mistake was made, and we hope it will be treated fairly." Michael and Konstantina have applied for release, but at this stage, it is considered rather uncertain.
DID ANYTHING HAPPENED TO THESE GUYS THAT TOOK OF THE ELLENIK FLAG FROM ΤΗΕ ΕLLΕΝΙΚ IMIA AND PUT INSTEAD THE TURKISH ON 28 January 1996
LOOK INSTEAD WHAT HAPPEND TO US
ON 31/January/1996
The crimes and specific incidents imposed by the Turks against the Greeks of Pontus during the Pontic Greek Genocide
drawn from the extensive documentation compiled by Konstantinos Fotiades in his multi-volume work on the Genocide of the Greeks of Pontus. Fotiades gathered thousands of primary sources including consular reports, survivor testimonies, diplomatic dispatches from German, Austrian, British and other archives, and ecclesiastical records.
The crimes began intensifying from 1914-1916 under the Young Turks and continued with greater ferocity after May 1919 under the Kemalist forces. They formed a systematic campaign of extermination that included mass killings, deportations, forced labor, sexual violence, destruction of property, and cultural erasure. The death toll for Pontic Greeks is estimated at approximately 353,000.
Massacres of civilians
Turkish regular troops, gendarmes, and irregular chetes (bands often led by figures such as Topal Osman) carried out mass killings in numerous villages and towns. Entire communities were rounded up and executed by shooting, bayoneting, or other means. In one documented case near Samsun, in the village of Ada, Turkish troops surrounded the settlement and killed over 340 Greek inhabitants, burning the village to ashes with only a few survivors. Similar massacres occurred across dozens of villages around Samsun and Bafra, with seventy or more villages destroyed in single operations. In Niksar (Neocaesarea), chetes gathered Greeks outside the city and executed them in mass shootings. In many locations, mobs of chetes and local Turks broke into homes, dragged men, women, and children into the streets, and killed them on the spot while setting houses on fire.
Burning of villages, churches, and people alive
Turkish forces systematically burned Greek villages, often locking inhabitants inside churches or houses before setting them ablaze. Churches and monasteries were desecrated and used as incinerators. In several villages, entire populations including women and children were herded into caves, the entrances sealed, and the people burned alive or suffocated with smoke or gas. In other incidents, villagers were confined in their own homes or schools and burned to death. This pattern repeated across the regions of Amasya, Giresun, Samsun, Tokat, Trabzon, and Sebinkarahisar.
Death marches and forced deportations
Authorities ordered mass deportations of Greek populations from coastal and inland areas to the harsh interior of Anatolia. Deportees, including women, children, and the elderly, were forced to march long distances without adequate food, water, or shelter. Death rates reached 80 to 90 percent due to starvation, exhaustion, exposure, disease, and attacks by escorts or bandits along the way. Corpses of women and old men were frequently seen lying by the roadsides. Deportations affected towns such as Samsun, Bafra, Ordu, Tirebolu, Amasya, and Çarşamba. In December 1916 and January 1917, large-scale expulsions took place from Samsun and surrounding districts, with further waves continuing into the early 1920s. Many caravans were subjected to repeated abuse and selective massacres en route.
Forced labor battalions (Amele Taburları)
Greek men of military age, and sometimes older boys or women, were conscripted into labor battalions for road construction, quarrying, and other projects. They worked under brutal conditions with minimal food, constant beatings, and little rest. Mortality rates often exceeded 90 percent due to overwork, starvation, disease, exposure, and summary executions. Survivors described the battalions as death traps designed to eliminate able-bodied males.
Rapes and sexual violence
Widespread and systematic rape of Greek women and girls occurred during village raids, deportations, and massacres. Assaults often took place in front of family members as a deliberate tool of terror and humiliation. Young girls were frequently abducted and taken into Turkish or Muslim households.
Arbitrary arrests, torture, and public executions
Notables, priests, teachers, and wealthy Greeks were arrested on fabricated charges such as desertion or collaboration. They endured severe torture before execution. In Amasya, around 200 Greeks were reportedly hanged. In other towns, groups of prominent citizens were arrested, paraded through streets, and killed. Mass arrests preceded deportations, with hostages held in schools or other buildings and threatened with massacre.
Looting and plunder of property
Before or during deportations and massacres, gendarmes and chetes seized money, valuables, livestock, homes, businesses, and land from Greek families. Greek properties were confiscated and redistributed or sold by Ottoman/Turkish authorities. Boycotts of Greek businesses, heavy taxation, and prevention from working their fields were used to impoverish communities prior to physical attacks.
Forced conversions to Islam
Under threat of death, many Greeks, particularly women and children, were forced to convert to Islam. Those who refused faced immediate execution or deportation.
Abduction of women and children
Turkish forces and irregulars abducted large numbers of Greek women and children. Girls were taken for sexual exploitation or forced marriage into Muslim families, while boys were often assimilated or raised as Turks.
Destruction of cultural and religious heritage
Churches, monasteries, schools, and historical Greek sites were burned, looted, or converted into mosques or stables. This erased centuries of Greek Orthodox presence in Pontus. In many cases, religious leaders were targeted first and killed or tortured publicly.
Specific regional death tolls documented in sources used by Fotiades and related records
- Amasya, Giresun, Samsun areas: 134,078
- Tokat: 64,582
- Trabzon: 38,434
- Niksar: 27,216
- Sebinkarahisar: 21,448
- Other districts such as Maçka and additional villages added thousands more.
These crimes occurred in distinct phases. The first major wave began in late 1916 under the Young Turk government during World War I, with deportations and massacres intensifying in 1917. After the Ottoman defeat, the Kemalist movement resumed and escalated the campaign from May 1919 onward, with Mustafa Kemal's arrival in Samsun marking the start of the most organized phase of extermination. The atrocities continued until the final expulsions associated with the 1923 population exchange.
Fotiades' volumes emphasize that these acts were not isolated wartime excesses but a centrally directed policy of ethnic cleansing and extermination aimed at removing the indigenous Greek population from Pontus. German, Austrian, and other neutral observers documented many of these events in real time through consular and military reports.
The survivors who reached Greece carried testimonies of these horrors, which Fotiades systematically collected alongside archival evidence. No complete exhaustive list of every single village incident exists in one place due to the scale (hundreds of villages affected), but the patterns and categories above cover the full spectrum of crimes repeatedly evidenced across his sourced materials.
Entry into Smyrna and initial atrocities September 1922
Turkish nationalist forces under Mustafa Kemal entered Smyrna on September 9 1922 after the Greek army had evacuated. The city at that time had a large Greek population and significant Armenian community. Order broke down quickly. Turkish soldiers and irregular troops known as chetes along with some local Turkish civilians began systematic looting of Greek and Armenian shops and homes. They robbed valuables cash and jewelry. They separated men from women and children. Many women and girls were raped and sexually assaulted often in front of family members. Men were frequently beaten tortured or killed on the spot. On September 10 the Greek Orthodox Metropolitan bishop Chrysostomos of Smyrna was dragged from his church by a Turkish mob. He was beaten hacked with knives and killed in public view while French soldiers nearby were ordered not to intervene.
Massacres intensified in the Armenian quarter first. Turkish troops went house to house murdering civilians after robbing them. They raped women and girls. Similar killings looting and rapes spread to the Greek quarters. Eyewitnesses including American British and other foreign observers reported bodies lying in the streets. Turkish forces prevented many people from fleeing and shot at crowds.
The Great Fire of Smyrna
On September 13 1922 a fire broke out in the Armenian quarter and rapidly spread to the Greek districts. Most contemporary eyewitness accounts from American consuls missionaries journalists and naval officers state that Turkish soldiers deliberately started the fire. They used tins of petroleum kerosene and other accelerants. Soldiers were seen pouring liquid on buildings pianos and streets then setting them alight. They started multiple fires simultaneously in a way that the wind carried the flames through Christian neighborhoods while sparing the Turkish Muslim quarter. Turkish troops blocked firefighters from extinguishing the blaze and in some cases threatened or shot at them. The fire burned for several days until September 22 destroying almost the entire Greek and Armenian sections of the city including homes churches schools hospitals and businesses. Only the Turkish and Jewish quarters largely survived.
As the fire raged tens of thousands of Greeks and Armenians crowded the waterfront quay desperate to escape. Turkish forces placed guards and machine guns at both ends of the quay. They prevented many from boarding foreign ships. Some people were shot as they tried to reach the water. Others drowned or were crushed in the panic. Many burned to death trapped by the flames. The screams of people in the fire were reported as louder than the roar of the blaze itself. Foreign warships from Britain America France and Italy were anchored in the harbor but their crews mostly followed orders not to intervene directly in the mass evacuation or stop the violence except for limited rescues of their own nationals.
Deportations and labor battalions
Before during and after the fire Turkish authorities separated able-bodied Greek and Armenian men from their families. They deported tens of thousands of these men into the interior of Anatolia. Many were sent on forced marches or placed into labor battalions where they built roads tunnels and performed other hard labor under brutal conditions. They received little or no food water or rest. Guards beat them and many died from exhaustion starvation disease exposure or direct killings. Of the thousands taken from Smyrna and surrounding areas very few survived to return.
Women children and the elderly faced similar death marches. They were driven inland without adequate provisions. Many perished along the routes from hunger thirst illness or attacks by irregular troops. Some women faced forced conversion to Islam or repeated sexual violence.
Broader context in Asia Minor
These events in Smyrna were the climax of a longer campaign against Ottoman Greeks that began around 1914 and continued through 1923 known as the Greek Genocide. Turkish authorities and irregular forces carried out:
- Boycotts and economic exclusion of Greek businesses
- Arbitrary arrests and executions of community leaders priests and intellectuals
- Destruction of Greek villages churches and schools often by burning
- Mass conscription of Greek men into labor battalions starting in World War I where death rates were extremely high due to harsh treatment
- Forced deportations and death marches of entire communities into the Anatolian interior where people died in large numbers
- Widespread massacres in captured towns and villages during the final Turkish advance in 1922
In the final phase of the Greco-Turkish War as Turkish forces advanced they repeated these patterns in many areas killing civilians burning settlements and deporting survivors.
Death estimates
Estimates for deaths in Smyrna itself vary. Most sources indicate tens of thousands killed in the massacres rapes and fire combined. Some contemporary reports and later studies put the figure for Smyrna at around 30 000 to over 100 000 Greeks and Armenians dead when including those who died in the fire drownings and immediate aftermath. Overall for the Greek population of Asia Minor from 1914 to 1923 historians estimate between 300 000 and over 1 million deaths from massacres deportations labor battalions and related causes. The events created over one million Greek refugees who fled to Greece and elsewhere.
The 1923 Treaty of Lausanne formalized a population exchange that forced the remaining Greeks out of Turkey and Muslims out of Greece completing the removal of the Greek presence from Asia Minor after thousands of years.
Turkish official historiography denies that these events were systematic crimes or genocide. It attributes the fire to Greeks or Armenians and claims deaths resulted from war chaos or actions by retreating Greek forces. However the majority of foreign eyewitness reports from the time including American consuls like George Horton missionaries and naval officers as well as many historians conclude that Turkish forces carried out deliberate massacres rapes deportations and arson to eliminate the Christian populations and create an ethnically homogeneous Turkish state.
Note that during the war some atrocities including killings and village burnings were also committed by Greek forces especially during their retreat. The scale and systematic nature of the persecution against the Greek civilian population in the final Turkish advance and earlier phases was significantly larger according to most independent accounts.
This is a summary drawn from multiple historical eyewitness reports and scholarly sources. The events remain highly contested between Greek and Turkish narratives.
