Last updated on September 11th, 2021 at 02:37 pm
A group of far-right Greek extremists burned Turkish flags late Friday in Thessaloniki to protest the reopening of the Hagia Sophia Mosque for worship in Istanbul.
The crew burned a Turkish flag after gathering outside the Agia Sofia Church before than marching in the direction of the Turkish Consulate whilst keeping symptoms and signs and symptoms and symptoms that read: “For homeland, state and orthodoxy.”
Protesters had been stopped outdoor the consulate with the aid of protection forces then once more burned every different Turkish flag and sang the Greek countrywide anthem and shouted slogans.
Besides being a functioning mosque, Hagia Sophia is additionally amongst Turkey’s pinnacle tourism destinations for home and remote places visitors alike.
In 1985, at some stage in its time as a museum, Hagia Sophia used to be once brought to the UNESCO World Heritage List. It served as a church for 916 years until the conquest of Istanbul, and a mosque from 1453 to 1934 — almost five hundred years — and most these days as a museum for 86 years.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and different Turkish leaders had prolonged inspired for it to return to a functioning mosque, open for worship.
A Turkish court docket annulled a 1934 Cabinet decree July 19 that grew to come to be Hagia Sophia into a museum, paving the way for its use as a mosque.
In the new science for Hagia Sophia, Turkey’s Religious Affairs Directorate will oversee spiritual offerings at the mosque, whilst the Culture and Tourism Ministry will supervise restoration and conservation work.
The architectural treasure is moreover open to domestic and remote locations vacationers free of charge.
