“The transformation of Hagia Sophia Cathedral in Istanbul into a mosque turns it from a place of culture into a place of separation and division, it is necessary to protect this cultural monument,” said the Synod of the Greek Orthodox Church on Monday.
Representatives of the Orthodox Church are upset by “the refusal of the civilization neutral use of the monument as a museum, which was established by the Republic of Turkey in 1934, and the desire to turn the cultural space into a trophy and symbol of conquest. They call for unity to abolish the change in the status of St. Sophia.

July 10, the Supreme Administrative Court of Turkey annulled the 1934 decision to turn the Cathedral of St. Sophia into a museum. Immediately after that, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said that he signed a decree on turning the cathedral into a mosque and starting Muslim services there from July 24.

St. Sophia’s Cathedral was founded by Christian Emperor Justinian and opened on December 27, 537. The cathedral has been the largest temple in the Christian world for over a thousand years. After the capture of Constantinople by the Ottomans and the fall of the Byzantine Empire in 1453, the cathedral was used as a mosque.

Since 1934, by decree of the founder of the modern Turkish state Kemal Ataturk, the building became a museum. In 1985 it was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Source: RIA News