Turks used the temple of Athena as a gateway for a night bar

When the Turkish population has learned that what is scattered around them are not ancient Greek, Roman, Byzantine masterpieces, historical evidence and does not try to understand them but learns that they are just stones that tourists like, their contempt for these “stones “reaches and sometimes exceeds the limit of disrespect.

After the iconic Hagia Sophia, whose gate and marble are used as hangers and shelves for shoes, the next episode comes from Sidi, in Pamphylia, Asia Minor.

A bar called “Apollo” opened on a private property next to the Temple of Athena in the ancient city of Sidi. Those who opened the bar, which used to be a restaurant, used the historic ruins at the excavation site as a gateway to the nightclub.

According to the newspaper Hürriyet, the gate of the excavation site of the temple, which dates back to the middle of the 2nd century AD. and was built in the name of the goddess Athena, and the surroundings of the temple were reorganized as the entrance gate of the nightclub, which was put into operation under the name “Apollo”, in an adjacent private property. The wooden railings that surrounded the entrance of the temple and were placed to protect the artifacts were completely removed the day before from the inauguration.

The head of Culture and Tourism of the province of Antalya, Jademir Zoroglu, filed a lawsuit against those responsible. Stating that such an image could not be allowed, Zoroglou said: “Some attempts have been made to open this gate in the past, but we prevented it. In fact, the director of the excavation personally gave us instructions to comply with the measures. “The day the business opened, but unfortunately, they reopened the door later in the evening. We are taking all necessary measures to prevent it from happening again in the future,” he said.

Petros Kranias