Tens of thousands Turkish 'Islamist' demand Istanbul's Hagia Sophia be turned into a mosque. HT: TIP.
Tens of thousands of Turkish Islamists held a triumphalist gathering outside Istanbul's Hagia Sophia museum on Saturday.
Originally built as a cathedral in 537 by the Byzantine Emperor Justinian, it was converted into a mosque by the Ottomans following the fall of Constantinople in 1453.
The former religious site was re-opened as a museum in 1935. The Islamists who prayed at the site on Saturday did so with the hope that it would be converted back into a mosque by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The protest also coincided with the anniversary of the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople on May 29, 1453, an event for which Erdogan has encouraged the celebration.
Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of the modern Turkish republic, converted the massive structure into a museum in 1935.
For Turkey's Islamists, Hagia Sophia serves as a symbol of Islam's triumph over Christianity.
"Ayasofya is a symbol for the Islamic world and the symbol of Istanbul's conquest. Without it, the conquest is incomplete, we have failed to honor Sultan Mehmet's trust," Reuters quoted Salih Turan, head of the Anatolia Youth Association, as saying. The association claims it has collected 15 million signatures asking for Hagia Sophia to reopen as a mosque.Read the full story here.
Related: The AKP Hagia Sophia Campaign
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