Hagia Sophia hosts first Friday prayers in 86 years after being converted into mosque
"RIP Turkey, 1921 – 2017 [...] The AKP and supporters of the “yes” vote argue that the criticism of the constitutional amendments was unfair. They point out that the changes do not undermine a popularly elected parliament and president as well as an independent (at least formally) judiciary. This is all true, but it is also an exceedingly narrow description of the political system that Erdogan envisions. Rather, the powers that would be afforded to the executive presidency are vast, including the ability to appoint judges without input from parliament, issue decrees with the force of law, and dissolve parliament. The president would also have the sole prerogative over all senior appointments in the bureaucracy and exercise exclusive control of the armed forces. The amendments obviate the need for the post of prime minister, which would be abolished. The Grand National Assembly does retain some oversight and legislative powers, but if the president and the majority are from the same political party, the power of the presidency will be unconstrained. With massive imbalances and virtually no checks on the head of state, who will now also be the head of government, the constitutional amendments render the Law on Fundamental Organization and all subsequent efforts to emulate the organizational principles of a modern state moot. It turns out that Erdogan, who would wield power not vested in Turkish leaders since the sultans, is actually a neo-Ottoman."
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VIDEO - 47s President Erdogan joins thousands in first prayers at Hagia Sophia.
Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan joined thousands of worshippers at Hagia Sophia on Friday for the first prayers there since he declared the monument a mosque once again.
Key points:
* Mr Erdogan converted the Hagia Sophia into a mosque earlier this month, sparking international outrage
* The Hagia Sophia has long been seen as a symbol of shared history and Muslim-Christian unity
* Church leaders in Greece and the US have said they will observe a "day of mourning"
Thousands of Muslim faithful made their way to the Istanbul landmark to take part in the first prayers in 86 years at the structure that once was one of Christendom's most significant cathedrals, then a mosque and museum before its reconversion into a Muslim place of worship.
Mr Erdogan and his top ministers, wearing white facemasks as a precaution against COVID-19, knelt on blue carpets at the start of a ceremony which marks the return of Muslim worship to the ancient monument.
Earlier, crowds formed at checkpoints around the historic heart of Istanbul where massed police maintained security.
Once through the checks, worshippers sat apart on prayer mats in secured areas outside the building in Sultanahmet Square.
As crowds grew, leaving little space for social distancing, Istanbul Governor Ali Yerlikaya said authorities had stopped people entering the area due to concerns about the spread of the coronavirus.
On Twitter, he called for patience and said the mosque would be open for prayer until Saturday morning.
"God is greatest," chanted people in the square.
Some slept after arriving overnight and others ate on the grass, shaded by trees from the hot sun. Some in the crowds held Turkish and Ottoman flags.
Converting Hagia Sophia back into a mosque had long been a goal of Turkey's Islamic movement.(AP: Yasin Akgul)
Mosque conversation a symbol of Erdogan's Islamic revival
Revered by Muslims and Christians alike for 1,500 years, the Hagia Sophia had its status as a museum annulled earlier this month.
Mr Erdogan immediately turned back into a mosque a building which was a Christian Byzantine cathedral for 900 years before being seized by Ottoman conquerors and serving as a mosque until 1934.
The structure, listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site, has since been renamed The Grand Hagia Sophia Mosque.
The Hagia Sophia was turned into a mosque after Istanbul's conquest by the Ottoman Empire but had been a museum for the last 86 years.(AP: Emrah Gurel)
Mr Erdogan was accompanied by around 500 dignitaries to fulfil what he has described as the "dream of our youth" anchored in Turkey's Islamic movement.
During his 17-year rule, he has championed Islam and religious observance and backed efforts to restore Hagia Sophia's mosque status.
Mr Erdogan said Muslims should be able to pray there again and raised the issue — popular with many pious supporters of his AKP party — during local elections last year.
The President has reshaped Turkey's modern republic, established nearly a century ago by the staunchly secularist Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, lifting a ban on Muslim headscarves in public, promoting religious education and taming Turkey's powerful military, once a bastion of Ataturk's secular values.
VIDEO - 31s Turkish President opens Hagia Sophia for worship
Mr Erdogan also described its conversion into a museum by the republic's founding leaders as a mistake that is being rectified.
"This is Hagia Sophia breaking away from its captivity chains. It was the greatest dream of our youth," Mr Erdogan said last week.
"It was the yearning of our people and it has been accomplished."
The conversion triggered fierce criticism from church leaders, who said the change to exclusively Muslim worship risked deepening religious divisions.
Turkey says the site will remain open for visitors and its Christian artworks protected.
The Hagia Sophia's ceiling depicts Arabic words for Muhammad and Allah alongside a portrait of Mary and baby Jesus.(AP: Emrah Gurel)
Christian icons concealed during prayer times
Inside Hagia Sophia, the Christian frescoes and the glittering mosaics adorning the cavernous dome and central hall will be concealed by white curtains during Muslim prayer times, but remain on display for the rest of the time.
Orthodox church leaders in Greece and the United States were scheduled on Friday to observe "a day of mourning" over the inaugural prayers.
Mr Erdogan's decision has sparked dismay in Greece and the United States, who had called on Turkey to maintain it as a museum as a nod to Istanbul's multi-religious heritage and the structure's status as a symbol of Christian and Muslim unity.
In neighbouring Greece, bells tolled and flags flew at half-mast at hundreds of churches across the country in protest at the decision to convert Hagia Sophia into a mosque.
The Greek Orthodox Church leader, Archbishop Ieronymos, was scheduled to hold a special service at Athens Cathedral on Friday.
Churches in Greece's second-largest city, Thessaloniki, are also organising vigils.
Orthodox Christians have decried Mr Erdogan's decision to convert the Hagia Sophia.(AP)
"Today is a difficult day … a shadow hangs over us with the transformation of Hagia Sophia into a mosque — something that genuinely shocks Christians all over the world and not only Greeks," Greek Government spokesman Stelios Petsas said in an interview with private channel Open TV.
"We have warned for some time that this will create an unbridgeable gap between Turkey and the Christian world."
The history and religious traditions of the predominantly Greek-speaking and Orthodox Christian Byzantine Empire remain influential in Greece.
The church protests also occurred amid a volatile dispute between Greece and Turkey over mineral rights in the eastern Mediterranean, with the Greek military on alert over a planned Turkish maritime survey in waters claimed by Greece.
The Hagia Sophia conversion has reignited longstanding tensions between Turkey and Greece.(AP: Yasin Akgul)
In New York, the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America called the inaugural prayers a "cultural and spiritual misappropriation and a violation of all standards of religious harmony and mutual respect."
Archbishop Elpidophoros of America held a meeting with US President Donald Trump and Vice-President Mike Pence in Washington on Thursday to discuss concerns over the reconversion.
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