This is the last provocation of Erdogan : to turn Ayasofya into a mosque. He just announced to the world that the ancient byzantine basilica of Constantinople will be opened to muslim prayers from the July 24, revoking a decree of 1934 which conferred upon the hagia Sophia to the status of national museum. It is thus in the footsteps of the sultan Mehmed II, who, on the evening of its conquest of Constantinople on 29 may 1453, went to the christian basilica, built in the Fourth century to convert it to the islamic ritual. Symbol of the roman Empire of the East, the site has been secularised by Atatür...

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Anadolu Agency via AFP – / – AFP leemage via AFP (x2) – EPA/MAXPPP – Aurimages via AFP – Kayhan Ozer/AP/SIPA – ONLY FRANCE, via AFP – Emrah Oprukcu/Shutterst/SIPA