Erdogan's order making Hagia Sophia mosque brings cheers, mourning
While many pious Turks and some Muslims throughout the world celebrated the decision to revert the world heritage site to its pre-Ataturk status, others warned of the move's potential to create further domestic polarization.
Crowds brandishing Turkish flags and shouting “Allahu akbar” — God is great — began forming outside the Hagia Sophia, an icon of Christian Orthodoxy revered the world over, today to celebrate its imminent conversion from a museum back to a mosque.
The celebrations began after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a passionate advocate of making the Hagia Sophia a mosque once again, issued an executive decree transferring the management of the 1,500-year-old Byzantine structure from the Culture and Tourism Ministry to the Religious Affairs Directorate.
The anticipated change follows a ruling by a Turkish court annulling a 1934 decree issued under the revolutionary founder of the modern Turkish republic, Kemal Ataturk, changing its status from mosque to museum.
The decision was very much a formality. Erdogan’s close circle made it clear in private exchanges that despite the likely international furor that is likely to erupt, the president’s mind was made up.
