A Little Extra Time for Hagia Sophia in Turkey

However, according to the press agency Anadolu, the Court rejected the request not for its contents but for its form, citing formal mistakes in the wording.

Ever since 2013, the political party in power in Turkey has been regularly requesting the transformation of Hagia Sophia, currently a museum, into a mosque.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s position is ambiguous. While he does accept to promote the Christian heritage for the purposes of tourism and in order to reassure the Western world, the Turkish head of State does not hesitate to speak of the period of the Byzantine Empire as “a dark chapter” in history. Over a thousand years of Christian civilization discredited, much like the stereotypes in our countries on the medieval time period.

Ever since the Justice and Development Party (AKP) came into power, there has been regular pressure from the Muslims around the Hagia Sophia basilica, with readings from the Koran and public prayers on the front steps of the building.

Hagia Sophia is a major architectural work. Rebuilt in the 5th century under the Emperor Justinian, the basilica is situated at the entrance of the Bosphorus Strait and the Golden Horn; it is there that the Byzantine Emperors were consecrated. It was desecrated on May 29, 1453, when Constantinople was invaded by the Ottoman troops of the Sultan Mehmed II.