top of page
Search

Turkey | President revokes museum status of WH-listed Hagia Sophia, allowing it to be used as mosque

ISTANBUL — President Recep Tayyip Erdogan issued a decree Friday ordering Hagia Sophia to be opened for Muslim prayers, an action likely to provoke international furor around a World Heritage Site cherished by Christians and Muslims alike for its religious significance, stunning structure and as a symbol of conquest.


The presidential decree came minutes after a Turkish court announced that it had revoked Hagia Sophia’s status as a museum, which for the last 80 years had made it a monument of relative harmony and a symbol of the secularism that was part of the foundation of the modern Turkish state.


https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/10/world/europe/hagia-sophia-mosque-turkey.html

Recent Posts

See All

Montevideo, Uruguay (June 8, 2023)—As people around the world gear up to commemorate World Ocean Day, in Uruguay, Gerando Amarilla, Vice Minister of Environment, announced the government’s commitme

bottom of page