UNESCO regrets change in status of Hagia Sophia

The corresponding message is published on the organization’s website.

“The Director-General of UNESCO deeply regrets the decision of the Turkish authorities, adopted without prior dialogue, to change the status of Hagia Sophia,” the statement said.

Earlier, the Turkish State Council annulled the decision of 1934 on turning the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul into a museum.

After that, the Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan signed a decree on the transfer of the cathedral to the Religious Affairs Authority and permission to conduct Muslim services there.