UNITED NATIONS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 10th July, 2020) UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres supports the statement made earlier by UNESCO that any change in Hagia Sophia's status should be reviewed by its World Heritage Committee, UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said in a press briefing on Friday.
Earlier on Friday, Turkey's top administrative court, the Council of State, annulled a 1934 cabinet decree converting Hagia Sophia into a museum, which means that it can now be used as a mosque. The move was personally championed by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who immediately signed a decree opening Hagia Sophia for Muslim prayers.
"We just got off the phone with our UNESCO colleagues. We, of course, fully back UNESCO - they have the Primary responsibility within the UN system on dealing with the maintenance of these global heritage sites," Dujarric said.
A further statement by UNESCO on the decision taken by Turkey is expected to follow, Dujarric added.
Hagia Sophia was founded by Byzantine Emperor Justinian and was opened on December 27, 537. The cathedral had been 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.
