Constantinople

Turkey's president has signed a decree to formally turn the Hagia Sophia into a mosque - a move which threatens to upset Christians around...

Greek MFA: Turkey offends the international community with Islamic prayers in Hagia Sophia by Paul Antonopoulos May 30, 2020 With the popularity of Turkish President Recep Tayyip...

By Dimitris Konstantakopoulos 11.12.2018 A very serious rift regarding Ukraine is now developing between the Ecumenical (Universal) Patriarchate of Constantinople and the biggest and more powerful...

15 Oct, 2018 In the biggest rift in modern Orthodox history, the Russian Orthodox Church has cut all ties with the Constantinople Patriarchate, effectively splitting...

Modern Turkey is a strange amalgam of Western structures underpinned by Ottoman habits. Their various governments, whether military or not, are still heavily influenced by its huge military, and the contradiction between religion and secularism stills bedevils its development. Russia knows this, and knows that the bazaar mentality prevails in Turkish foreign policy. Rather than provoke a collapse of the shaky Turkish state, Russia prefers to weaken a neurotic NATO, and eventually bring Turkey into its sphere of influence, in the interests of Middle Eastern stability.