ISTANBUL (SONNA)- After completing all preparations, Turkey will open Hagia Sophia for worship on July 24 at Friday prayer, the Turkish president said on Friday.
In an address to the nation, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan delivered his remarks on the new status of Hagia Sophia — which was used as a museum for the past decades but will serve as a mosque following a recently adopted decree on Friday.
Since it was built in the sixth century, changing hands from empire to empire, Hagia Sophia has been a Byzantine cathedral, a mosque under the Ottomans and finally a museum, making it one of the world’s most potent symbols of Christian-Muslim rivalry and of Turkey’s more recent devotion to secularism
The president said Hagia Sophia’s doors will be open for Turks, foreigners, Muslims, and non-Muslims as is the case with all other mosques.
The World Heritage site was once a potent symbol of Christian-Muslim rivalry, and it could become one once more.
SOURCE:AA
