Hagia Sophia
Controversial Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan turned the Hagia Sophia Museum into a mosque and opened it for prayers for the first time in 86 years, which sparked a global outrage.
The Orthodox Church of Greece announced July 24 is a mourning day for Christians in protest of performing Muslim prayer in Hagia Sophia cathedral, while churches in Cyprus rang out a funereal tone for five minutes.
The cathedral was built in the era of Byzantine emperor Justinian I in the 6th century CE (532–537). In 1453, Mehmed the Conqueror had changed it into a mosque, but in 1935 Mustafa Kemal Atatürk turned the mosque into a museum.
Most Read