Turkish Council of State reverses decree of Hagia Sophia’s museum status

The Turkish Council of State has revoked the Turkish government’s decree on assigning the Hagia Sophia cathedral museum status, the CNN Turk TV channel reported on Friday.

Thus, the authorities of the republic received a legal opportunity to change the status of the Hagia Sophia from museum to a mosque.

Currently there is no information on the date of the beginning of Muslim worship at the Hagia Sophia.

Earlier, the CNN Turk TV channel reported that the Turkish Council of State had held a meeting on July 2 in order to discuss a possible change in the status of the Hagia Sophia cathedral. According to the TV channel, the discussion lasted only 17 minutes.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had instructed that the issue of the cathedral’s status change be addressed at a meeting of the main council of the Justice and Development Party which he chairs.

The Hagia Sophia cathedral in Istanbul is an example of Byzantine architecture built in 532-537 AD on the orders of emperor Justinian I. After the fall of the Byzantine Empire the cathedral was converted into a mosque in 1453.

In 1935, according to a decree signed by the founder of the modern Turkish state Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the cathedral became a museum and the plaster was cleared off the frescoes and the mosaics. In 1985, the building was included on the UNESCO World Heritage list.