The former Hagia Sophia basilica in Istanbul, now a museum, could be renamed "Hagia Sophia Mosque", the Turkish president said.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday discussed the possibility of renaming the former Hagia Sophia Basilica in Istanbul, currently a museum, into a "Hagia Sophia Mosque" after the local elections on March 31st.

Asked about a possible free admission to the Hagia Sophia Museum during a television interview, the Head of State replied: "It is not impossible ... (...) But we will not do it under the name of 'museum' but of '' Hagia Sophia '".

Subject of polemics between Christians and Muslims. Major architectural work built in the 6th century at the entrance to the Bosphorus Strait and Golden Horn, the Hagia Sophia is regularly the subject of controversy between Christians and Muslims who are fighting over its use. This church, where the Byzantine emperors were crowned, was converted into a mosque in the 15th century after the capture of Constantinople by the Ottomans in 1453.

Under the secular regime of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, it was decommissioned and turned into a museum, according to the law, to "offer it to humanity". "Tourists come and go to the Blue Mosque, do they pay anything? (...) Well we'll do the same with Hagia Sophia," said President Erdogan, in the middle of the campaign for Local elections on March 31 are expected to be tight in several major cities, such as Ankara and Istanbul.

With Erdogan, multiplication of activities related to Islam in Hagia Sophia. The status of this monument, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site and visited by millions of tourists each year, continues to irritate Turkey's most militant Muslims. Since the arrival of Recep Tayyip Erdogan in power in 2003, activities related to Islam have multiplied inside Hagia Sophia, including reading sessions verses of the Koran or collective prayers on the forecourt of the monument.

Neighboring Greece, which closely monitors the future of Byzantine heritage in Turkey, has repeatedly expressed concern about initiatives to challenge the status of Hagia Sophia. The subject was again evoked after the attack on March 15 by a right-wing extremist against two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, where he killed 50 people.

"You will not be able to make Istanbul a Constantinople." Recep Tayyip Erdogan has several times mentioned in meeting the "manifesto" published by the author of the attack, in which he states that the Basilica of St. Sophia will be "liberated" from its minarets. "You will not be able to make Istanbul a Constantinople", so reacted on Monday the head of the Turkish state.