Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia is a mosque again
Change had been sought for years by Turkey’s president
ISTANBUL — President Recep Tayyip Erdogan sealed his longstated desire to restore the historic Hagia Sophia as a working mosque Friday, opening the magnificent Byzantine structure built in the sixth century as the world’s largest cathedral to thousands of Muslim worshippers for the first time in nearly nine decades.
Huge crowds began gathering even in the predawn hours around Hagia Sophia to attend Friday prayer, a crowning moment for Erdogan after 18 years at the helm of Turkish politics.
Erdogan arrived at noon, wearing a mask, and sat on the mosque floor, head bowed and eyes closed, listening to the melodic recitation of the Quran, which was carried live on national television.
At 1 p.m., the crowd fell silent and knelt in unison as the head mufti, his hands clasped on the hilt of the sword of conquest, gave his sermon.
“This is a festival for us today. We are so happy,” said Selahattin Yigiter, a retired businessman who was sitting with his wife on a prayer mat on the sidewalk below the nearly 1,500-year-old building. “With the pressure of Muslim people, it is reconverted.”
But the atmosphere of celebration among the Muslim faithful in Turkey contrasted with the angst and dismay Erdogan’s decision has generated among Christians around the world and among many in academic and conservation communities.
Built in the sixth century by a Byzantine emperor, Justinian I, Hagia Sophia was for nearly 1,000 years the largest church in the world and the center of Christendom.
In 1453, the Ottoman sultan Mehmed II conquered Constantinople and converted the majestic building into a mosque: It became one of Islam’s holiest sites.
Under Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, who founded the modern Turkish republic, Hagia Sophia was turned into a museum.
Just hours before the event, the government announced the entire World Heritage Site, which encompasses several nearby historic buildings, would be closed for ordinary business for 24 hours.
But Hagia Sophia would stay open all night through to this morning to allow the faithful the chance to pray inside the mosque, said Ali Yerlikaya, the governor of Istanbul.
Many in Turkey see the move as pure political theater, part of Erdogan’s effort to buoy his political standing, which has wobbled after nearly two decades atop Turkish politics and as the pandemic further set back an already shaky economy.