Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday opened a former Byzantine church in Istanbul, four years after the Turkish government designated it an Islamic house of prayer, despite criticism from neighboring Greece. It was officially opened as a mosque.
In 2020, Turkey officially converted the Church of the Holy Savior in Chora, known in Turkish as Kaliye, into a mosque, and soon after, similarly converted Istanbul’s landmark Hagia Sophia into a house of prayer for Muslims.
Both conversions drew praise from Muslim believers but criticism from Greece and other countries, which had called on Turkey to protect important Byzantine monuments. Both are registered as United Nations World Heritage Sites.
Turkey launches new airstrikes in northern Iraq, killing 16 Kurdish militants
Like Hagia Sophia, which was used for centuries as a church and then as a mosque for centuries, Chora operated as a museum for several decades before its conversion into a mosque was ordered. However, the official inauguration of Chola as a mosque was delayed due to subsequent restoration of the building.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan remotely presided over a ceremony to mark the opening of the Chora and other recently restored buildings on Monday from the conference hall of the palace complex in Ankara.
A panoramic view of the Kariye Museum in Yenikapi, Istanbul, on March 3, 2018. (Photo credit: Emrah Oprukcu/NurPhoto, Getty Images)
“Good luck,” Erdogan said during the televised event.
Musa Tombul was one of the first worshipers to pray inside.
“I have been waiting for the opening for four years,” he told state-run Anadolu Agency. “It was an honor to be able to pray in a place like this.”
“We are grateful to God for showing us these days,” Anadolu quoted another worshiper, Haydar Sembajar, as saying. “If possible, I would like to come here from time to time to pray.”
This church is located near the ancient city walls of Istanbul and is famous for its elaborate mosaics and frescoes. This structure dates back to the 4th century, but it was in the 11th-12th century that this building took its current form.
The structure was used as a mosque during Ottoman rule and was converted into a museum in 1945.
Greece had criticized Ankara’s decision to turn it back into a mosque, accusing it of “insulting the character” of another world heritage site.
The decision to return Hagia Sophia and Chora to mosques is seen as a move aimed at strengthening Erdogan’s ruling party’s conservative and religious support base amid the economic downturn.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
In 2020, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan joined hundreds of worshipers at Hagia Sophia for the first Muslim prayers in 86 years, defying international criticism and calls for the monument to be preserved as a museum. As many as 350,000 people took part in prayers outside the building.
