Hagia Sophia
In the following lines, ET sheds light on the most important world events that took place on December 27.
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.
