Istanbul's Hagia Sophia to become a mosque again

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has formally reconverted Istanbul’s sixth-century Hagia Sophia into a mosque.

He declared it open to Muslim worship on Friday, hours after a high court annulled a 1934 decision that turned it into a museum.

The decision to reconvert Hagia Sophia – a former cathedral that was turned into a mosque after Istanbul’s conquest by the Ottoman Empire and had served as a museum for 86 years – sparked deep dismay among Orthodox Christians.

But there was jubilation outside Hagia Sophia, where dozens of people who awaited the court’s ruling outside chanted “Allah is great!” when the news came out.

Turkey’s high administrative court threw its weight behind a petition brought by a religious group and annulled the 1934 Cabinet decision that turned the site into a museum.

Within hours, Mr Erdogan signed a decree handing over Hagia Sophia to Turkey’s Religious Affairs Presidency.

The president has demanded the hugely symbolic world heritage site should be turned back into a mosque despite widespread international criticism, including from the US and Orthodox Christian leaders.

The move could also deepen tensions with neighbouring Greece.

Cypriot Foreign Minister Nikos Christodoulides, a Greek Cypriot, posted on his official Twitter account that Cyprus “strongly condemns Turkey’s actions on Hagia Sophia in its effort to distract domestic opinion and calls on Turkey to respect its international obligations”.

He said Turkey’s “escalating, flagrant violation of its international obligations is manifested in its decision to alter the designation of Hagia Sophia, a World Heritage Site that is a universal symbol of the Orthodox faith”.

Nationalist and conservative groups have long been yearning to hold prayers at Hagia Sophia, which they regard as part of the Muslim Ottoman legacy.