Turkish president marks 6th anniversary of Hagia Sophia’s reopening as mosque

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday marked the sixth anniversary of the reopening of the Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque for worship.

In a post on Turkish social media company NSosyal, Erdogan said: “Six years ago today, Hagia Sophia regained its original identity after 86 years of longing. God willing, this blessed place of worship will continue to echo with the call to prayer forever. May the revival of Hagia Sophia be blessed.”

Originally built as a church, Hagia Sophia served as a place of Christian worship for 916 years until the Ottoman conquest of Istanbul in 1453, when Sultan Mehmed II converted it into a mosque through his endowment.

It remained a mosque until 1934, when a Cabinet decree turned it into a museum, a status it held for 86 years.

On July 10, 2020, Türkiye’s Council of State annulled the 1934 decree, paving the way for the monument to reopen as a mosque.