According to nbc news, on Thursday, Turkey’s Council of State heard arguments by lawyers for the Association for the Protection of Historic Monuments and the Environment, a group asking for the Hagia Sophia to be reverted from a museum to a mosque.
Built between 532 and 537 AD at the direction of the Byzantine Emperor Justinian by two architects, Isidore of Miletus and Anthemius of Tralles, Sophia became the largest church in Constantinople for nearly 1,000 years.
In 1453, Constantinople was overthrown by the Ottoman empire. Aya Sophia was transformed into a mosque by Sultan Muhammad al-Fateh and all items of Christian religion such as bells and altars were removed and replaced with Islamic elements such as the mihrab, pulpit, and four towers outside the building.
Declared as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2017, the status change was a request from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at last year’s election rally.
To your knowledge, Muslims in Turkey have long been demanding that this building be a mosque, but it has been opposed not only by secular opposition.
In fact, Turkey’s highest court in 2018 has rejected an appeal to allow Muslims to pray in the building on the grounds that the application was unqualified and any changes were not made.
Source: Nbcnews
