The crime of cultural heritage destruction has been committed against the same victims by the same perpetrators again and again—in Turkey, Cyprus, the South Caucuses, and the Middle East.

While religious minorities go back and forth between being scapegoats and props, Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu has demonstrated that municipalities can play a key role in making their religious minority residents feel welcome as equal citizens and valued stakeholders.

Given the Turkish government’s particularly troubling conduct in 2020, Secretary of State Antony Blinken should deliver an honest message about the alarming trajectory of religious freedoms in Turkey.

President-elect Joe Biden must construct a foreign policy agenda that prioritizes confronting Turkey, on its belligerent international conduct, and stabilizing the spiraling economic, political, and security situation in Lebanon.

Following the Hagia Sophia’s conversion to a Muslim mosque this August, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan and President Arif Alvi called Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to congratulate him.

The conquest mentality that has shaped the Turkish government’s Hagia Sophia policy and rhetoric not only puts the sacred heritage of Turkey’s religious minorities at risk, but also threatens their lives.

Hagia Sophia’s conversion is the culmination of Erdoğan’s long campaign to transform Turkey into a neo-Ottoman empire.