US President Donald Trump held a meeting with Archbishop Elpidophoros of America, the head of the Orthodox Archdiocese of America, and expressed strong dissatisfaction over Turkey's decision to convert Istanbul's Hagia Sophia into a mosque, Greek media reported on Friday
ATHENS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 24th July, 2020) US President Donald Trump held a meeting with Archbishop Elpidophoros of America, the head of the Orthodox Archdiocese of America, and expressed strong dissatisfaction over Turkey's decision to convert Istanbul's Hagia Sophia into a mosque, Greek media reported on Friday.
According to Athens News Agency, after a meeting with US Vice President Michael Pence, the Archbishop was invited to Trump's office and they discussed some critical issues for about 15 minutes.
Trump looked very annoyed and concerned about the issue of the protection of human rights and especially religious freedoms of minorities in Turkey, the news outlet said. The US leader also expressed full support to the Ecumenical Patriarchate and personally to Patriarch Bartholomew and promised to proceed with necessary interventions in this issue.
"I am grateful to have met with President Trump (@POTUS) and @VP Pence in the @WhiteHouse and communicated our grave dismay at the re-conversion of #HagiaSophia into a mosque, as well as ongoing security concerns for the Ecumenical Patriarchate and issues of religious liberty," Archbishop Elpidophoros said on Twitter after the meeting.
Earlier in July, Turkey's highest administrative court, the Council of State, annulled the 1934 decree converting Hagia Sophia into a museum, meaning it can now be used as a mosque. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan signed the necessary decree.
Hagia Sophia was founded by Byzantine Emperor Justinian as a cathedral and was opened on December 27, 537. The church, 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.
The ruling to convert the site in Istanbul into a mosque has been met with strong criticism from religious and political leaders across the world. The Russian Orthodox Church and the head of the Roman Catholic Church Pope Francis have expressed their regret at the decision.
