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ISTANBUL, TURKEY - JULY 24: In this handout picture released by the Turkish Presidential press office, Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and invited guests attend Friday prayers at Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque during the buildings first official prayers after being reconverted into a mosque on July, 24, 2020 in Istanbul, Turkey. (Photo by Handout/Turkish Presidential Press Office/Getty Images)

Istanbul's Hagia Sophia holds first Friday prayers since reconversion to mosque

Amberin Zaman

Reporting on geopolitics, minorities, human rights, culture

A man flashes the V for Victory hand sign and waves a flag outside the Hagia Sophia museum in Istanbul on July 10, 2020 as people gather to celebrate after a top Turkish court revoked the sixth-century Hagia Sophia's status as a museum, clearing the way for it to be turned back into a mosque. - The Council of State, the country's highest administrative court which on July 2 debated a case brought by a Turkish NGO, cancelled a 1934 cabinet decision and ruled the UNESCO World Heritage site would be reopened t

Erdogan plays out Islamic 'Reconquista' with Hagia Sophia as backdrop

Cengiz Candar

ISTANBUL, TURKEY - FEBRUARY 11: The ceiling of one of the dome's inside the Hagia Sophia Museum is seen on February 11, 2016 in Istanbul, Turkey. The Hagia Sophia (Ayasofya) Museum is one of the most visited tourist attractions in Turkey, with more than 3 million visitors per year. Constructed in 537 the museum originally served as an Orthodox Cathedral, later a Roman Catholic church and was converted into a mosque when Constantinople was conquered by the Ottoman Turks in 1453. In 1935 it was opened as a mu

UN experts urge Turkey to use Hagia Sophia as 'intercultural space'

Al-Monitor Staff

Al-Monitor Staff

Hagia Sophia's Christian icons to be covered with curtains during prayers

Al-Monitor Staff

Al-Monitor Staff