Before the constitutional referendum slated for April, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan wishes to perform a Friday Islamic prayer service in Hagia Sophia, in Istanbul, wrote journalist Zeynep Gürcanlı of Sözcü newspaper of Turkey.  

She noted that this wish of Erdoğan is viewed as a tactical move in the referendum campaign.

Gürcanlı stressed that Hagia Sophia, which currently functions as a museum, is planned to be turned into a functioning mosque.

Hagia Sophia is a church that was built in the Byzantine period, and its present-day dome was built by famous Armenian architect Trdat the Architect.