Erdoğan visits Hagia Sophia ahead of mass Friday prayer

Photo: Recep Tayyip Erdoğan / Twitter

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President and Justice and Development Party (AKP) Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has visited Hagia Sophia ahead of its conversion into a mosque.

The Council of State on July 10 annulled a 1934 cabinet decree turning the mosque into a museum.

Erdoğan had announced that Hagia Sophia would reopen as a mosque on July 24 with a mass Friday prayer.

Minister of Culture and Tourism Nuri Ersoy, İstanbul Governor Ali Yerlikaya, Minister of Interior Süleyman Soylu and the Presidency's Communications Director Fahrettin Altun accompanied Erdoğan, the state-run Anadolu Agency reported.

He then moved to Taksim and visited the Taksim Mosque, which has been under construction since February 2017 and the new Atatürk Cultural Center, the construction of which is expected to be completed by the end of the year.

Ayasofya... pic.twitter.com/SqXRX3N5WG

— Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (@RTErdogan) July 19, 2020

"Visitors will be able to see the mosaics"

Presidential spokesperson İbrahim Kalın said yesterday that the historical mosaics of Hagia Sophia will be preserved.

"The main point here is that there is no damage to these mosaics, depictions, the historical texture, and architecture of the building," he told the pro-government news channel NTV.

"Currently, we are working on covering them with a curtain [during prayers]," Kalın added. "These will also be open to regular visitors, whoever wants to go and see those mosaics."

Kalın did not give details on how many people are expected to attend the first prayer at Hagia Sophia but said that social distancing rules will be applied due to the novel coronavirus. (RT/VK)