The threat of Turkish President Recep Erdogan to turn the Hagia Sophia into a mosque offends not only Christians, but also the international community, said Greek FM George Katrougalos, Greek Reporter reported.
“It is not only a great temple of Christendom — the largest for many centuries — it also belongs to humanity. It has been recognized by UNESCO as part of our global cultural heritage,” the Greek FM reminded.
According to him, questioning of this status is “not just an insult to the sentiments of Christians, it is an insult to the international community and international law.”
“We want to hope that the correct statements of March 16 by the Turkish leadership will be valid and there will be no change of this status,” he added, referring to Erdogan's speech in which he ruled out its transformation into a mosque.
Erdogan announced the possibility of turning of Hagia Sophia into on mosque on March 24, on the eve of Greek Independence Day of Greece. “This is not unlikely. As you know, the mosque was converted to a museum in 1935, as a reflection of the (Republican People’s Party) CHP mentality. We may as well take a step and change that,” Erdogan concluded.
Earlier, Erdogan said that he did not support the idea of turning the Hagia Sophia, located in Istanbul, into a mosque, since this could lead to serious consequences.
As the Turkish newspaper Daily Sabah noted certain steps have already been taken in the direction of turning it into a mosque: "In 2015 the Quran was read in the building for the first time in 85 years. The following year, the religious authority of Turkey began to broadcast religious readings during the holy month of Ramadan, and the call for prayer was repeated inside (the cathedral) on the anniversary of the first revelation of the Quran to the prophet Muhammad. ”
Hagia Sophia is is considered the epitome of Byzantine architecture. The current building was originally constructed as a church between 532 and 537 on the orders of the Byzantine Emperor Justinian I. Following the fall of Constantinople in 1453, Hagia Sophia was turned into a mosque. In 1935 the building was transformed into a museum.
