Turkey: today the decision on the Hagia Sophia mosque

(ANSA) - ISTANBUL, JULY 10 - The announcement of the decision of the Turkish State Council on the reconversion of the Hagia Sophia is expected today. The 10th section of the highest administrative tribunal of Ankara must comment on the appeal filed by a local Islamist association, which calls for the annulment of the decree of 27 November 1934 by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk which transformed the symbol of Istanbul into a museum, after having been a Christian basilica for almost a millennium and place of Islamic worship since the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople in 1453. According to local media and various representatives of the Akp of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, judgments would have expressed themselves in favor of the conversion into the mosque. Even in the event of rejection of the appeal, a return to the executive would be likely to decide on the status of the building, still opening the way for its transformation into a place of Islamic worship. The United States and the EU have launched calls for Hagia Sophia to remain a museum, together with the greatest exponents of the world Orthodox church.
   Erdogan replied that it is a matter of "national sovereignty". (HANDLE).