Oh, my criticism wasn't of you, but of the person who replied to you with a load of nonsense. People tend to ignore/simplify/skew the history to fit their agenda (or are too lazy to make the kind of effort you are to understand), so it's good to look at the actual documented history.
As for the Hagia Sophia comparison, I can see where you're coming from, but this is all on a much bigger scale, which by default makes it much more complicated t figure out. But the first step is wanting to know, and you're there, so good job!
