Today, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited the Hagia Sophia Mosque in Istanbul to see recent preparations for his first Friday prayer on July 24, after decades during which this unique religious edifice remained a museum.
Erdogan was accompanied during the visit by the ministers of interior, culture and tourism, head of religious affairs and the governor of Istanbul.
For its part, the Turkish Anatolia News Agency said that the Turkish President arrived at the mosque from his house located in the Kisikli district of Istanbul's Uskudar district.
She added that he wandered inside the mosque for an hour, where he was briefed on the arrangements underway to officially open it to hold the next Friday prayer.
The official account of the Turkish president on Twitter posted pictures of him inside the mosque, and the presidency also published other photos of him as he inspected the works in preparation for the first Friday prayer after the decision issued on the tenth of this month, the State Council, which is the highest administrative court in Turkey, and the judge to return the Hagia Sophia To its former position a mosque.
Earlier, the Religious Affairs Authority in Turkey announced that 500 people will arrive at the Hagia Sophia Mosque next Friday, and it is not yet known whether Erdogan will pray in there.
The authority said that during the prayer, Christian icons will be covered in this historic architectural edifice, which for five centuries has been a mosque from the opening of Constantinople at the hands of Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror until it was converted into a museum in 1935.
Turkey rejected all Western positions condemning the return of the Hagia Sophia mosque, stressing that this step, which was the result of a judicial decision, is an internal matter.
Ayasofya… pic.twitter.com/SqXRX3N5WG
- Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (@RTErdogan) July 19, 2020
Erdogan commented on criticism from Western countries by saying that the return of the Hagia Sophia Mosque is a sovereign right of his country.