Turkey is running a major propaganda and tourism campaign on the giant screens of Times Square in New York, and Hagia So...

Turkey is running a major propaganda and tourism campaign on the giant screens of Times Square in New York, and Hagia Sophia is front and center. Images of the converted mosque, along with other landmarks tied to Istanbul and Turkey's cultural heritage, are being displayed across the billboards under the slogan "The place where civilizations meet, where history breathes: Constantinople." The campaign also features messages from President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, plastered across both the fixed screens and mobile LED vehicles driving through New York. His quotes include "The world is bigger than 5," a dig at the UN Security Council's permanent members, as well as "Global governance must represent all of humanity, all religions, all races, and all civilizations" and "In a world where children are killed under bombs, no one can feel safe." Turkey's Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change Minister Murat Kurum attended the Times Square event in person. The campaign is partly tied to Turkey's hosting of COP31, the UN climate summit set for November in Antalya, with screens promoting the message "COP31 Turkey: The future of the world is in Turkey" and referencing more than 190 countries expected to attend. The broader campaign leans hard into Istanbul's identity, with slogans like "Times Square meets Turkey beyond time" and "New York never sleeps, Constantinople never stops inspiring." Turkey is using the UN General Assembly week in New York as the backdrop for the visibility push, maximizing the international media presence in the city. Hagia Sophia was converted from a museum back into a mosque by Erdogan in 2020, drawing widespread condemnation from Greece, Cyprus, and the Orthodox Christian world. Its appearance in a high-profile American advertising campaign is unlikely to go unnoticed. #Hagia Sophia #Turkey #Istanbul