The Turkish president recited a verse from the Koran before the call to prayer was heard.
Istanbul:
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan led the first Muslim prayers in Hagia Sophia for thousands of people on Friday since the controversial conversion of Istanbul’s iconic cathedral into a mosque.
On July 10, the highest administrative court revoked the museum’s status of the 6th-century monument and Erdogan then ordered the building to reopen for Muslim worship, upsetting the Christian community and strengthening ties with Greece.
Dressed in an Islamic skullcap, Erdogan recited a verse from the Koran before the call to prayer was heard from the four minarets of Hagia Sophia, AFP correspondents said.
Next, the head of the state’s religious affairs directorate, Ali Erbas, delivered the sermon, which was broadcast live on Turkish news channels.
There was such a flow of people eager to take part in the prayer, Istanbul Governor Ali Yerlikaya said Friday morning that the spaces in and around Hagia Sophia were quickly filling up.
Aynur Saatci, 49, called it a “historic moment”, telling AFP that she was on vacation in Erzurum, in eastern Turkey, but returned for the event.
“I immediately cut my vacation short and returned to Istanbul as soon as I knew we could pray in Hagia Sophia,” Saatci said. “I am deeply moved.”
Experts say Erdogan is trying to reinvigorate his religious and nationalist base and that many Muslims participating in the prayer saw it as a historic event.
“This is the time when Turkey breaks its chains. Now it can do whatever it wants, without having to submit to the West,” said Selahattin Aydas of Germany.
“We have been waiting for this for years. I am very happy. There may be sanctions against Turkey because of it, or the number of tourists may drop, but that does not change anything for me,” Hatip, who runs a store of memories near Hagia Sophia, said.
In Greece, churches were in “mourning” with their bells across the country which should ring at noon in protest against the conversion.
Religious and nationalist groups will hold protests in Athens and Thessaloniki later Friday.
(Except for the title, this story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is posted from a syndicated feed.)
