Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia reconversion to a mosque ‘used to divide Erdogan’s opposition’
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Turkey’s top court allowed Istanbul’s 6th-century Hagia Sophia museum’s conversion back to a mosque, a victory for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who called for the change and signed a decree immediately after, opening it as a place of worship. The 1,500-year-old World Heritage site was originally a cathedral, then a mosque, and a museum. “Each time there is a crisis in Turkey, this Hagia Sophia’s affair is used, to divide the President’s opposition”, Samim Akgonul, historian at the Strasbourg University, tells FRANCE 24.