Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan should participate this Friday, July 24 in the first Muslim prayer in the former Hagia Sophia since its conversion into a mosque. The opportunity for this nostalgic for the Ottoman Empire to treat himself to a splash.
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A major architectural work built in the 6th century and the most visited monument in Istanbul, Hagia Sophia has successively been a Byzantine basilica, an Ottoman mosque and a museum. On July 10, Recep Tayyip Erdogan decided to return the building to Muslim worship after a court decision revoking its status as a museum.
This measure has aroused the anger of certain countries, notably Greece, which closely follows the fate of Byzantine heritage in Turkey. Pope Francis also said he was " very distressed " by this reconversion.
Barely two weeks after this decision, between 700 and a thousand Muslim faithful were to participate around noon (French time) in Friday prayers at Hagia Sophia. Already the crowd is crowding around the mosque. Leaders and officials from several predominantly Muslim countries, such as Qatar and Azerbaijan, were also invited, according to the Turkish press.
The 97th anniversary of the Treaty of Lausanne
For many observers, Erdogan's reconversion of Hagia Sophia into a mosque aims to galvanize his conservative and nationalist electoral base in a context of economic difficulties aggravated by the pandemic.
Read also: "Erdogan is leading a pan-Islamist and neo-Ottoman project that must be tackled urgently"
By making this decision, the Head of State is also attacking the legacy of the founder of the Republic, Mustafa Kemal, who had transformed Hagia Sophia into a museum in 1934 to make it the emblem of secular Turkey.
Turkish President inaugurates new plaque with "Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque" written OZAN KOSE / AFP
As a symbol, Erdogan has also chosen for the first prayer on the 97th anniversary of the Treaty of Lausanne which fixes the borders of modern Turkey and which the president, nostalgic for the Ottoman Empire, often calls for to revise.
But Ankara rejected the criticism in the name of " sovereignty ", stressing that tourists will be able to continue to visit this building classified as a World Heritage Site by Unesco.
