Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan rejected criticism on Friday of his will to convert the former Hagia Sophia in Istanbul into a mosque, despite concern expressed in Turkey and abroad. " Laying charges against our country over Hagia Sophia is tantamount to directly attacking our right to sovereignty, " said Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
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He was reacting to warnings from several countries about a possible change in the status of Hagia Sophia to transform it into a mosque, examined on Thursday by the highest administrative court in Turkey. The Turkish Council of State has considered a request to this effect made by several associations during a brief hearing and must announce its decision within 15 days.
Converted into a mosque after the capture of Constantinople by the Ottomans in 1453, it was transformed into a museum in 1935 by the leader of the young Turkish Republic, Mustafa Kemal, anxious to " offer it to humanity ". Wednesday, the American diplomat Mike Pompeo had exhorted Ankara not to touch the statute of museum of Hagia Sophia and France affirmed that it would be attentive " to the preservation of the integrity of this jewel of the universal heritage " which she said should " remain open to all ". The fate of Hagia Sophia is also of particular concern to neighboring Greece, which is closely monitoring the future of the Byzantine heritage in Turkey.
Erdogan, a nostalgic for the Ottoman Empire who is today seeking to rally the conservative electorate amid an economic crisis due to the pandemic of new coronavirus, has several times said for a reconversion into a mosque. Last year, he called the transformation of Hagia Sophia into a museum "a very big mistake ".