Turkish Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hamis Aksoy said that Greece's protest against the opening of the Hagia Sophia for worship once again demonstrated its hostility to Islam and Turkey.
In a statement, he condemned the most aggressive statements of the Greek government and parliament, allowing the Turkish flag to be burned openly in Thessaloniki, and demanded that Greece wake up from what he described as the Byzantine dream.
Aksoy also pointed out that Greece is the only European country in whose capital there is no mosque, and that it cannot provide a lesson for Turkey regarding the use of its sovereign right, stressing that the Hagia Sophia will remain the property of Turkey and under its protection, and that Ankara will continue to keep the Hagia Sophia mosque open to everyone.
Church bells rang across Greece on Friday as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan prayed in the crowds of worshipers in Hagia Sophia.
Relations between the two NATO countries have been in turmoil in recent months, but tensions have risen over Hagia Sophia and energy fortunes in the eastern Mediterranean.
Relations between Turkey and Greece were also strained over the issue of immigration, especially after Ankara reopened its borders to refugees to leave Europe earlier this year.