ISTANBUL – Realizing the dream of his Young People with Islamic orientation, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan joined many faithful on Friday for the first Muslim prayers in 86 years in the Basilica of Hagia Sophia, the Istanbul monument that served as one of the most vital cathedrals of Christianity. a mosque and a museum before switching to a Position of Muslim Worship.
Thousands of other Muslim faithful arrived here from all over Turkey and temporarily filled the specially designated outdoor spaces of the Byzantine-era monument to enroll in the inaugural prayers. Many others were rejected, while the leaders of the Orthodox Christian churches in Greece and the United States announced a “day of mourning” for the return of Hagia Sophia as a mosque.
Prayers began with Erdogan by reciting the Qur’aan. The head of the devout Turkish authority, Ali Erbas, led the rite and prayed that Muslims would never be “denied” the right to worship in the famous 6th century structure around the world.
Up to 350,000 more people participated in Friday’s prayers, the president said.
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Adem Yilmaz, who attended prayers, expressed his joy at living “the creation of history.”
“He has a position where all hearts beat at once, ” he said.
Ignoring foreign criticism, Erdogan issued a decree this month re-establishing iconic construction as a mosque, shortly after a Turkish high court ruled that the Hagia Sophia had illegally become a museum more than 8 decades ago.
The structure, declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, has been renamed “The Great Mosque of Hagia Sophia”.
The resolution caused consternation in Greece and the United States and among the leaders of the Christian church who had called Erdogan to the Basilica of Hagia Sophia as a museum in popularity of Istanbul’s multi-faith heritage and the prestige of the structure as a symbol of Christian and Muslim unity.
The resurgence of the Basilica of Hagia Sophia as a mosque is interpreted as a movement to consolidate Erdogan’s conservatives and devotees at a time when its popularity is waning in the midst of an economic recession.
“This allows him to move the narrative of economics to cultural wars, a domain in which he has done well in the afterlife by mobilizing his right-wing base,” said Soner Cagaptay, a Turkish analyst at the Washington Institute and the Erdogan’s Empire. “
“It is Hagia Sophia who separates heded from his chains of captivity. It’s the biggest dream of our youth,” Erdogan said last week. “It’s our other people’s preference and it was fulfilled.” Erdogan also described his museum conversion through the republic’s founding leaders as a correctible mistake.
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In neighboring Greece, bells rang and flags flew to a lot of churches across the country to protest the decision. The head of the Greek Orthodox Church, Archbishop Ieronymos, held a special service at the Cathedral of Athens on Friday. Churches in Athens and the largest city of the time in Greece, Thessaloniki, also held vigils.
“Universal values have been tarnished and therefore require universal condemnation,” Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said.
The data for this article comes from Robert Badenbieck, Derek Gatopoulos and Costas Kantouris of the Associated Press.