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Istanbul

Finding his voice

Pope Leo XIV’s first foreign trip was never going to be a routine pastoral visit. The geographies he chose, Turkey and Lebanon, are not only symbolic crossroads of faiths but also corridors of conflict where diplomacy, identity and history constantly collide.

Museum as a signifier

By seeking to change the status of what had originally been the most recognisable symbol of modern Istanbul, a source of wonder and fascination since its sixth-century construction, Erdogan has betrayed his revanchism motivated by a deep-rooted hostility toward the ways of his illustrious predecessor Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.