Turkey Counts On Hagia Sophia To Remain On UNESCO's World Heritage List - Ruling Party

MOSCOW/ANKARA (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 13th July, 2020) Turkey hopes that the Hagia Sophia cathedral will remain on UNESCO's World Heritage List after its status was changed from a museum to a mosque, Omer Celik, the spokesman for Turkish ruling party Justice and Development, said on Monday.

On Friday, Turkey's top administrative court, the Council of State, annulled a 1934 decree designating Hagia Sophia a museum. Immediately after, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan signed a decree to convert the cathedral into a mosque and allow Muslim prayers in it. UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay responded by saying that she "deeply regretted" the fact that Ankara made the decision "without prior discussion."

"We do not think that Hagia Sophia will be expelled from UNESCO's World Heritage List, as it [the cathedral] is a matter of pride for that list. Hagia Sophia will be protected even better, along all its peculiarities. Turkey is open for any cooperation [with UNESCO] with regard to upholding Hagia Sophia as a world heritage property," Celik told journalists.

The move was not particularly welcomed by the Western world. Austria, France, Greece, Cyprus, Russia and the United States were among the countries to express regrets over Ankara's decision.

The Holy See and the European Union decried the cathedral's conversion as well.

"We count on Hagia Sophia, which until recently held a status of a museum and was considered a shrine for all Christians and a heritage of world culture and Eurasian civilization, being given maintenance conforming fully to that of a UNESCO World Heritage site. We expect that any actions pertaining to this unique monument will take into account its exceptional significance for the people of faith worldwide," Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman maria Zakharova said in a statement.

Hagia Sophia was founded by Christian emperor Justinian and inaugurated on December 27, 537. The cathedral, considered the epitome of Byzantine architecture, was the world's largest Christian cathedral for over a thousand years. After the Ottomans captured Constantinople and the Byzantine Empire fell in 1453, Hagia Sophia was converted into a mosque. In 1934, when Turkey was already a republic, it was designated a museum and included on UNESCO's World Heritage List.