Give Us Back Hagai Sophia 1st

It is clear from the fact that the Culture Minister sees San Nicola's relics as no different than any other museum piece. Either they don't understand or don't care about the reverance that Catholic & Orthodox Christians have for the relics of a saint. San Nicola is not a museum piece.

If they did go back to Turkey the most logical site for the relics would be the Byzantine Church of St. Nicholas, Myra (modern Kale/Demre). Sadly the Church is in direpair. It is only used on the Feast of San Nicola for a Greek Orthodox Divine Liturgy celebrated by the Metropolitan of Myra, who lives in Istanbul. Later that same day there is a service in which Orthodox, Catholic & Protestant clergy participate. The Cardinal Archbishop of Bari, where the saint's relics are now, is also represented. This is the Church where his relics were kept until 1087 when they were taken (yes, technically stolen) to Bari. At that time Myra was under the control of the Saracens aka Muslims.

But I find it more than a bit hypocritical for Turkey to ask for the return of San Nicola's relics when it retains control of Hagia Sophia in Istanbul. In 1453, Constantinople was conquered by the Ottoman Turks. At that time Sultan Mehmed II ordered the building to be converted into a mosque. In 1935 the Republic of Turkey had it turned into a museum. Let them return Hagai Sophia to Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople so it can be restored as his patriarchal basilica. & agree to stop interfering with his efforts to renewing the Orthodox presence as well as let him reopen the patriarchal Seminary of Halki in the Princes' Islands that has remained closed since 1971 on government orders.

Maybe then the Turkish government will have some moral authority to ask for San Nicola to be returned home. & only when there is a suitable spot at the original Church for them, not a museum. In other words to the Orthodox Church by the Pope, not by Italy to the government of Turkey.

Turkey wants the remains of old St Nick

AFP - Turkey will ask for the return of the bones of Saint Nicholas, who Father Christmas is modelled on, from their display in Italy, local media reported on Friday.
Saint Nicholas, from the modern-day town of Demre on southern Turkey's Mediterranean coast, is, according to tradition, the ancestor of Father Christmas, but his remains were stolen by Italian pirates in the 11th century.
"These bones should be exposed here and not in a town of pirates" in Bari, said Culture Minister Ertugrul Gunay, quoted in the newspaper Milliyet.
"If we build a museum in this town (Demre), naturally the first thing we will ask for are the remains of Father Christmas"

The minister gave no schedule for the museum construction, which would exhibit relics of ancient civilisations, but said that after a study by experts, Turkey would request that Italy return the remains of Saint Nicholas.
Many tourists, especially from Russia, visit the Saint Nicholas church in today's Demre, a fifth-century Byzantine basilica rebuilt in the 11th century.
Nicholas was a bishop in ancient Myra (Demre) in the fourth century, during the Byzantine period.
He was buried in Myra, but pirates stole his remains in the 11th century and brought them to Bari in southern Italy, placing them in its own Saint Nicholas basilica.
Saint Nicholas is celebrated for his charity, and his generosity towards others is at the origin of the character of Father Christmas, who took Nicholas's place in Christianity as the giver of presents to children.

Source: Turks Want Santa Back