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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsHagia Sophia becomes mosque again amid concerns
ISTANBUL (Reuters) - President Tayyip Erdogan declared Istanbul's Hagia Sophia open to Muslim worship on Friday after a top court ruled that the building's conversion to a museum by modern Turkey's founding statesman was illegal.
Erdogan made his announcement, just an hour after the court ruling was revealed, despite international warnings not to change the status of the nearly 1,500-year-old monument, revered by Christians and Muslims alike.
"The decision was taken to hand over the management of the Ayasofya Mosque...to the Religious Affairs Directorate and open it for worship," the decision signed by Erdogan said.
Erdogan had earlier proposed restoring the mosque status of the UNESCO World Heritage Site, a focal point of both the Christian Byzantine and Muslim Ottoman empires and now one of the most visited monuments in Turkey.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/hagia-sophia-becomes-mosque-again-amid-concerns/ar-BB16zWQl?li=BBnb7Kz
Great another religious nut job.
Guy Whitey Corngood
(26,507 posts)good luck to you, Turkish folks....
dalton99a
(81,656 posts)CTyankee
(63,914 posts)several Greek islands and also visited Istanbul. I was so eager to see the Hagia Sofia! Of course, because of Trump we probably can't visit Turkey anyway.
ancianita
(36,184 posts)It wasn't "conquered" and turned into a mosque until 1453 and Erdogan knows it.
Turkey wants to own it but he can't own its history.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hagia_Sophia