Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday that concerns coming from the global community in relation to turning the Hagia Sophia museum into a mosque were mere attempts to meddle in the country's internal affairs
ANKARA (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 03rd July, 2020) Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday that concerns coming from the global community in relation to turning the Hagia Sophia museum into a mosque were mere attempts to meddle in the country's internal affairs.
Last year, Erdogan suggested that Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, formerly, the Church of the Holy Wisdom, which used to be an Orthodox Christian cathedral before becoming a mosque and then a museum, could become a mosque again with free admission. On Thursday, Turkey's Council of State held a meeting on the matter, and a final decision is expected within 15 days. Ankara considers the issue to be Turkey's internal affair and opposes any foreign intervention in the decision-making process.
"The accusations against our country in connection with Hagia Sofia are basically attacks on the sovereignty of Turkey," the president said, speaking in Istanbul's Levent district.
Erdogan added that no one had "the right or authority to intervene in matters related to our shrine."
According to Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, his country has the right to change the cathedral's status without taking into account the views of other states.
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 turned into a Catholic cathedral. In 1261, the Byzantine Empire recaptured the city and the Church of the Holy Wisdom once again became the main Orthodox cathedral.
The Ottoman troops, led by Sultan Mehmet II, captured Constantinople on May 29, 1453, and afterward, the cathedral became a mosque. In 1934, then Turkish leader Mustafa Kemal Ataturk issued a decree turning Hagia Sophia into a museum.
