© Sputnik / Burcu Okutan
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan confirmed on Friday that he has signed a decree converting Hagia Sophia into a mosque.
"It has been decided to delegate control over Hagia Sophia to Diyanet [Directorate of Religious Affairs] and open it for prayers," the decree that Erdogan posted on Twitter read.
Erdogan's decree has been read off in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey and met with applause.
Earlier in the day, Turkey's highest administrative court, the Council of State, annulled the 1934 decree converting Hagia Sophia into a museum. While the decision has been taken unanimously, it can be appealed within 30 days.
The State Council has confirmed the fund that owns Hagia Sophia has decided to hand over the building for public use as a mosque at no cost.
There's no information so far about when worship services will start.
Ankara has repeatedly stressed that it considers the status of Hagia Sophia, located in Istanbul, its domestic affair and opposes any foreign interference in the decision.
Turkey has been opposed by UNESCO, the EU, the US and Christians around the world, with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew warning that the move "would turn them against Islam".
History of the Issue
The Church of the Holy Wisdom was completed in 537 AD during the reign of Byzantine Emperor Justinian the Great, and remained the main cathedral of the Orthodox Church until the conquest of Constantinople by the crusaders in 1204, after which the building was briefly turned into a Catholic cathedral.
In 1261, the Byzantines recaptured the city and the Church of the Holy Wisdom once again became the main Orthodox cathedral.
Nearly two centuries later, in 1453, the city was conquered by the Ottoman Empire and turned into a mosque. It remained a mosque until 1931 when it was closed to the public for four years. It was re-opened in 1935 as a museum by the Republic of Turkey.
Reader Comments
"For the polytheistic and pagan societies, apart from the religious and spiritual reasons each individual may have had, conversion to Islam “represented the response of a tribal, pastoral population to the need for a larger framework for political and economic integration, a more stable state, and a more imaginative and encompassing moral vision to cope with the problems of a tumultuous society.” In contrast, for sedentary and often already monotheistic societies, “Islam was substituted for a Byzantine or Sassanian political identity and for a Christian, Jewish or Zoroastrian religious affiliation.” Initially, conversion was neither required nor necessarily wished for: “[The Arab conquerors] did not require the conversion as much as the subordination of non-Muslim peoples. At the outset, they were hostile to conversions because new Muslims diluted the economic and status advantages of the Arabs.”..."Only in subsequent centuries, with the development of the religious doctrine of Islam and with that the understanding of the Muslim Ummah, did mass conversion take place. " This source linked below[Link]
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“It is not surprising that Turkey ignores or denies the findings in the US religious freedom report, because what the civilised world sees as a violation, abuse or crime, Turkey sees as a normal and even a glorified action. We see the usurpation of churches and their conversion into mosques or other types of facilities as an insult to human rights and religious freedom. But NATO, UN and Council of Europe member Turkey has turned the violation of human rights into a proud tradition,” Greek genocide scholar Vassilios Meichanetsidis told Al-Ahram Weekly.
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No, we will not forget Hagia Sophia and focus our attention on Putin's cathedral....why the "whataboutism?"
"Nearly two centuries later, in 1453, the city was conquered by the Ottoman Empire and turned into a mosque."
This is a story that made me break down and cry. But, as said above, ancient history.