U.S. Senate candidate: Hagia Sophia has to be returned to Orthodox Church

Hagia Sophia in Istanbul. Photo: Flickr

On April 26, 2026, U.S. Senate candidate Mark Lynch of South Carolina said he would make every effort to return Hagia Sophia to the Orthodox Church. The politician called the shrine’s current status “one of the greatest injustices in Christian history” and promised to use economic pressure on Turkey to remedy the situation.

Lynch sharply criticized his opponent, incumbent Senator Lindsey Graham, on X for his silence in 2020, when the Turkish authorities changed the status of the cathedral-museum into an active mosque.

According to the candidate, Graham failed to use U.S. influence to prevent the move, which Lynch described as an “act of cultural theft.”

The politician introduced a bill titled The Return the Hagia Sophia to the Church Act. The initiative provides for a series of radical measures.

It would impose a complete ban on all U.S. imports from Turkey. The volume of such trade in 2025 amounted to about $17.5 billion. The sanctions are to remain in place until ownership of the cathedral is transferred to the Greek Orthodox Church.

Lynch also plans to gather Orthodox, Catholic, and Protestant leaders at the Capitol to unite efforts in support of the bill.

The politician stressed that his initiative is part of a broader struggle against the seizure of Christian cultural heritage sites around the world.

Earlier, the UOJ reported that previously unknown underground structures had been discovered in Hagia Sophia in Istanbul.

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