UPI — Greek foreign affairs ministry officials expressed opposition and disappointment in the Turkish government this week, for its allowing the reading of prayers from the Koran at a former religious landmark that remains sacred to both Christians and Muslims.
Turkish officials, though, decided last month to allow the Muslim prayers and broadcasts at the site, which is now a heritage museum, until the end of the month.
“Since the United States are siding with the PKK [Kurdistan Workers’ Party], and Germany has clung to the [Armenian] genocide lie, friendship has shifted,” Samil Tayyar, a deputy for Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party, tweeted last week. “It’s our turn. [Hagia] Sophia should be open for worship.”
Tayyar was referring to a resolution passed by Germany last week that considered mass killings of Americans by Ottoman Turks in World War I a genocide. The declaration upset the Turkish government, which responded by recalling its ambassadors from Berlin.
Hagia Sophia, recognizable around the world for its large dome, was originally a Christian church and a Greek Orthodox cathedral centuries ago before it became an imperial mosque when the Ottoman Empire took power in the 15th century. It was turned into a secular museum in 1935 and designated a UNESCO world heritage site50 years later.
Ramadan, a holy month of of fasting that commemorates the first revelation of the Koran to the Islamic prophet Muhammad, runs through July 5.
