President Recep Tayyip Erdogan pronounced Istanbul’s famous Hagia Sophia open to Muslim love on Friday after a top court governed the structure’s transformation to an exhibition hall by present day Turkey’s establishing legislator was illicit. Erdogan made his declaration, only an hour after the court administering was uncovered, in spite of worldwide alerts not to change the status of the almost 1,500-year-old landmark, worshipped by Christians and Muslims the same.
“The choice was taken to hand over the administration of the Ayasofya Mosque … to the Religious Affairs Directorate and open it for revere,” the choice marked by Erdogan said. The UNESCO World Heritage Site in Istanbul, a magnet for travelers around the world, was first developed as a church building in the Christian Byzantine Empire yet was changed over into a mosque after the Ottoman victory of Constantinople in 1453.
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The court choice was followed rapidly by Erdogan saying that the UNESCO World Heritage Site in Istanbul would be revived for Muslim love. The Council of State, Turkey’s most noteworthy regulatory court, consistently dropped a 1934 bureau choice and said Hagia Sophia was enlisted as a mosque in its property deeds.
The United States, Greece and church pioneers were among those to communicate worry about changing the status of the immense 6th century building, changed over into a historical center in the beginning of the cutting stream Turkish state under Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.
UNESCO calls on the Turkish authorities to open a dialog directly with a view to keep away from a step again from the common worth of this distinctive heritage whose preservation shall be reviewed by the World Heritage Committee in its subsequent session,” the United Nation’s cultural physique mentioned in an announcement.
The UN’s cultural agency UNESCO has warned the country’s government against converting the Byzantine-era museum into a mosque, urging dialogue before any decision is taken. As reported by BBC, the first call to prayers was recited at the Sophia and was broadcast on all of Turkey’s main news channels.
Many people across the world including the head of the Eastern Orthodox Church have condemned Turkey’s new move.
