The mosaics in Istanbul’s iconic Hagia Sophia will be covered by curtains or lasers during Muslim prayers, said the spokesman for Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party).
Christian icons would be uncovered and open to all visitors at other times, and admission would be free, Omer Celik of the AK Party said Monday, without further explanation.
A Turkish court ruled last week that the conversion of the 6th-century Byzantine site to a museum in 1934 was illegal.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared the building to be a mosque and said that the first prayers would be held there within two weeks.
The move drew international criticism and concerns, including from Greece, the United States and Russia, as well as UNESCO, which is now reviewing the status of the structure’s World Heritage site.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Ankara was surprised by UNESCO’s reaction and would inform her of the steps to take regarding Hagia Sophia, which was a Byzantine church for nine centuries before the Ottomans converted it. in a mosque.
Turkey is sensitive to protecting its historical character, he said. “We have to protect the heritage of our ancestors. The function can be one way or another, it doesn’t matter,” Cavusoglu told state broadcaster TRT Haber.
On Monday, the leader of the Italian league’s far-right party, Matteo Salvini, led a demonstration in front of the Turkish consulate in Milan to protest the decision.
“It would stop all kinds of financial aid to the Turkish regime, and it would end once and for all the hypotheses that Turkey enters the European Union because we have given more than 10 billion euros to a regime that transforms churches into mosques and I believe they have exceeded the limit, “he said.
Salvini’s protest came a day after Pope Francis said he was “very sad” about Turkey’s decision.
In response to the pope’s comments, Celik told a press conference in Ankara that the greatest disrespect for Hagia Sophia in history had been committed by the papacy.
He said Orthodox Christians and Hagia Sophia had suffered for years during a papacy-led “Latin invasion” in the 13th century, when crusaders looted the cathedral.
Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman Hami Aksoy said Monday that Hagia Sophia is an internal affair and that no country can interfere in Turkey’s sovereign affairs.
“Hagia Sophia will continue to embrace everyone with her new status, preserving the common cultural heritage of humanity,” he said, according to a report by the Anadolu Agency.
.
