Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan attended the first prayer service in Hagia Sophia in more than 86 years.
Thousands of people gathered across Turkey to attend the service, the first since Erdogan revoked Hagia Sophia’s status as a museum. The areas outside the building were sectioned for prayer, quickly filling to capacity.
Some 350,000 people participated in the prayer, and many attended with masks as a precaution during the coronavirus pandemic.
Faithful waits in Istanbul’s historic Sultanahmet district, just outside the Byzantine era Hagia Sophia, on Friday July 24, 2020.
(AP Photo / Yasin Akgul)
Erdogan began the prayer with a recitation of the Koran, then delivered the service to Ali Erbas, who prayed that Muslims would never again be “denied” the right to worship in Hagia Sophia.
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Built almost 1,500 years ago, Hagia Sophia was the first cathedral of the Roman Empire. After a thousand years, the Ottomans converted the structure into a mosque after the sack of Constantinople.
When national hero Mustafa Kemal Ataturk established the modern state of Turkey, he turned the mosque into a museum, a movement that was in line with his secular policy for the new country.
Faithful waits in Istanbul’s historic Sultanahmet district near the Byzantine era Hagia Sophia on Friday July 24, 2020.
(AP)
The decision to reopen the Byzantine structure as a mosque drew criticism from Greek, American and Christian church leaders who asked Erdogan to maintain Hagia Sophia’s museum status, but the president ended the move after a court order.
“This is Hagia Sophia breaking her chains of captivity. It was the biggest dream of our youth, ”said Erdogan last week. “It was the desire of our people and it has been achieved.”
Muslims pray during Friday prayers in Istanbul’s historic Sultanahmet district near the Holy Byzantine, Hagia Sophia, background, Friday July 24, 2020.
(AP Photo / Yasin Akgul)
Some believe Erdogan has fueled the movement to combat his decline in popularity during an economic recession.
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“It allows him to shift the narrative of the economy to culture wars, an area where he did well in the past by mobilizing his right-wing base,” said Soner Cagaptay, Turkey analyst for the Washington Institute and author of “Erdogan’s Empire,” he said. The Associated Press.
Muslims pray during Friday prayers in Istanbul’s historic Sultanahmet district near the Byzantine Hagia Sophia, background, Friday July 24, 2020.
(AP Photo / Yasin Akgul)
However, the move has proven popular at the Erdogan base: Dozens of people gathered outside the building following the court order last week, and hundreds camped overnight to be ready for Friday’s first prayer.
Dozens of worshipers broke into a police checkpoint to rush to Hagia Sophia, and practices of social distancing, established due to the coronavirus outbreak, were ignored, Turkish media reported.
Retired teacher Suleyman Karatas said: “God willing, he will remain as a mosque. Because Hagia Sophia is the legacy of our ancestor. “
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The Erdogan government has promised that the Hagia Sophia artifacts will remain protected, and that the building will remain open for public visits outside of prayer hours.
Associated Press contributed to this report.
