France Regrets Ankara's Decision To Reconvert Hagia Sophia Into Mosque - Foreign Minister

PARIS (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 11th July, 2020) France regrets the decision by Turkey to transform Istanbul's Hagia Sophia museum into a mosque, Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said.

On Friday, Turkey's highest administrative court, the Council of State, annulled the 1934 decree converting Hagia Sophia into a museum, meaning it can now be used as a mosque. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has already signed the necessary decree.

"France expresses regret over the decision of the Turkish Council of State on changing the status of the Hagia Sophia cathedral museum as well as the decree of President Erdogan on transferring it under the control of the Directorate of Religious Affairs," Le Drian said in a statement on late Friday.

The French foreign minister stressed that Ankara's move posed a threat to Haghia Sophia as one of the most significant symbols of the secular nature of the Turkish state.

"Haghia Sophia should continue to represent the diversity of the religious heritage, dialogue and tolerance," Le Drian added.

Hagia Sophia was founded by Byzantine Emperor Justinian as a cathedral and was opened in December 537. The cathedral, considered the epitome of Byzantine architecture, was the world's largest building for over a thousand years. After the capture of Constantinople by the Ottomans and the fall of the Byzantine Empire in 1453, the cathedral was converted into a mosque, but since 1934, the building, by a decree of the founder of the Republic of Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, became a museum and was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.