Cyprus Slams Conversion of Hagia Sophia Into mosque by Ankara - Foreign Minister

ATHENS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 10th July, 2020) Cyprus condemns Turkey's initiative to change the status of Hagia Sophia cathedral in Istanbul by converting it into a mosque and calls on Ankara to follow international obligations, Foreign Minister Nikos Christodoulides said on Friday.

Earlier in the day, Turkey's highest administrative court, the Council of State, was reported to have annulled the 1934 decree converting Hagia Sophia into a museum, meaning it can now be used as a mosque. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has already signed the necessary decree.

"Cyprus is poignantly a victim, since the 1974 Turkish invasion and subsequent occupation of part of its territory, of #Turkey's orchestrated policy of destruction and looting of religious and cultural heritage monuments," the foreign minister tweeted.

He has described today's altering the status of a world heritage site as well as a revered symbol of Orthodox Christianity as an example of Ankara flouting of international obligations.

"Cyprus strongly condemns #Turkey's actions on #HagiaSophia in its effort to distract domestic opinion, and calls on #Turkey to respect its international obligations," Christodoulides concluded.

Cyprus has been divided into Greek and Turkish parts since 1974, when Ankara sent its forces to the island in order to allegedly protect the island's Turkish population. In 1983, the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus declared its independence, without being recognized by anyone except of the Turkish government.

Hagia Sophia was founded by Byzantine Emperor Justinian and was opened on December 27, 537. The cathedral, considered the epitome of Byzantine architecture, was the world's largest building for over a thousand years. After the capture of Constantinople by the Ottomans and the fall of the Byzantine Empire in 1453, the cathedral was converted into a mosque, but since 1934, the building, by a decree of the founder of the Republic of Turkey, Kemal Ataturk, became a museum and was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.