Ankara: Turkey's highest administrative court Council of State on Thursday turned the historic Hagia Sophia museum into a mosque.
The Council of State threw its weight behind a petition brought by a religious group and annulled a 1934 cabinet decision that changed the 6th-century building into a museum. The ruling allows the government to restore the Hagia Sophia's previous status as a mosque.
In its more than 1,400-year existence, the majestic domed structure of Hagia Sophia in Istanbul has served as the Byzantine Empire's main cathedral, a mosque under the Ottoman Empire and a museum under modern Turkey, attracting millions of tourists each year.
The 6th-century building was at the center of a heated debate between nationalist, conservative and religious groups who were pressing for it to be reconverted back into a mosque and those who believe the UNESCO World Heritage site should remain a museum, underscoring Istanbul's status as a bridge between continents and cultures.
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Built under Byzantine Emperor Justinian, Hagia Sophia was the main seat of the Eastern Orthodox church for centuries, where emperors were crowned amid ornate marble and mosaic decorations.
Four minarets were added to the terracotta-hued structure with cascading domes and the building was turned into an imperial mosque following the 1453 Ottoman conquest of Constantinople — the city that is now Istanbul.
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The building opened its doors as a museum in 1935, a year after the Council of Ministers' decision.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who leads an Islamic-oriented party, has previously spoken about possibly changing Hagia Sophia's status to a mosque but has said his government would await the Council of State's decision.
Analysts believe that Erdogan — a populist, polarizing leader who in nearly two decades in office has frequently blamed Turkey's secular elites for the country's problems — is using the Hagia Sophia to consolidate his conservative base and to distract attention from Turkey's substantial economic woes.
With inputs from agencies
