Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has formally opened a former Byzantine church in Istanbul as a mosque.
A Muslim cleric walks along a former Byzantine church which formally opened as a mosque, in Istanbul, Turkey, Monday, May 6, 2024. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan formally opened a former Byzantine church in Istanbul as a mosque on Monday, four years after his government had designated it a Muslim house of prayer, despite criticism from neighboring Greece. Turkey formally converted The Church of St.
Erdogan on Monday remotely presided over a ceremony marking the opening of the Chora — as well as other recently-restored structures — from a conference hall at his palace complex in Ankara.Musa Tombul was among the first worshippers to pray inside. “We thank God for showing us these days,” Anadolu quoted another worshiper, Haydar Senbahar, as saying. “Hopefully, we will come here from time to time and perform our prayers.”
The decisions to transform Haghia Sophia and the Chora back into mosques were seen as moves geared to consolidate the conservative and religious support base of Erdogan’s ruling party amid an economic downturn.
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