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ISRAEL AT WAR - DAY 470

Hagia Sophia

A man visits St. Savior Church, known as Kariye in Turkish, in Istanbul, August 21, 2020. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)
August 22, 2020, 3:39 am
After Hagia Sophia, Turkey turns another museum and former church into mosque
Istanbul’s Church of St. Saviour is converted to Muslim house of prayer, drawing international condemnation, as Erdogan seeks to appease base as his popularity sags
By AP
Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, center, takes part in Friday prayers in Hagia Sophia, at the historic Sultanahmet district of Istanbul, July 24, 2020. (Turkish Presidency via AP, Pool)
July 26, 2020, 10:58 pm
As Erdogan joins Hagia Sophia Muslim prayers, ‘2nd conquest of Istanbul’ hailed
Now reconverted into a mosque, site was built as a cathedral during Christian Byzantine Empire, became a mosque after the Ottoman conquest in 1453, was turned into a museum in 1934
By Burcin Gercek and Gokan Gunes
A man waves a Turkish flag outside the Byzantine-era Hagia Sophia, in the historic Sultanahmet district of Istanbul, Friday, July 24, 2020. (AP Photo/Omer Kuscu)
July 24, 2020, 12:05 pm
Thousands attend prayers as Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia reopens as a mosque
Erdogan and 500 dignitaries due to join first Muslim service in 86 years at site, which had been one of Christendom’s most significant cathedrals
By Mehmet Guzel and Suzan Fraser
Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, center, and other officials visit the Byzantine-era Hagia Sophia, one of Istanbul's main tourist attractions in the historic Sultanahmet district of Istanbul, July 19, 2020, days after he formally reconverted Hagia Sophia into a mosque and declared it open for Muslim worship, after a high court annulled a 1934 decision that had made the religious landmark a museum.(Turkish Presidency via AP, Pool)
July 20, 2020, 4:35 am
Turkey’s Erdogan visits Hagia Sophia after reconversion to mosque
Country’s religious authority says Christian icons will be curtained off and unlit ‘through appropriate means during prayer times’
By AFP
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan talks during a televised address to the nation in Istanbul, on May 11, 2020. (Presidential Press Service via AP, Pool)
July 14, 2020, 9:57 pm
Jewish umbrella group slams Erdogan for vowing to ‘liberate al-Aqsa’
Conference of Presidents says Turkish leader’s statements at ceremony marking Hagia Sofia’s reopening as a mosque were incendiary and offensive
By ToI Staff
Armed police patrol outside the Byzantine-era Hagia Sophia, one of Istanbul's main tourist attractions in the historic Sultanahmet district of Istanbul, Thursday, June 25, 2020. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)
July 13, 2020, 4:14 am
Hagia Sophia the focus of latest Muslim-Christian tussle over holy sites
From Spain to Syria, churches have been converted into mosques, and vice versa, as control over the sites has shifted over the centuries
By Haro Chakmakjian
Pope Francis delivers his message after the Angelus noon blessing from the window of his studio overlooking St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Sunday, July 12, 2020. In a very brief, improvised remark, Pope Francis, speaking from his studio window overlooking St. Peter's Square, said he is “deeply pained” over the decision by Turkey to change the status of Hagia Sophia, which had originally been built as a Christian cathedral, from that of a museum in Istanbul to a mosque. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
July 13, 2020, 3:44 am
Pope ‘deeply pained’ over Turkey’s move to once again make Hagia Sophia a mosque
In improvised remarks, Francis laments decision to return Istanbul icon, originally built as a Christian cathedral, from a museum to a Muslim house of worship
By AP
Armed police patrol outside the Byzantine-era Hagia Sophia, one of Istanbul's main tourist attractions in the historic Sultanahmet district of Istanbul, Thursday, June 25, 2020. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)
July 10, 2020, 5:25 pm
Turkey’s president formally makes Hagia Sophia a mosque
Move to allow Muslim prayer at iconic 6th century former cathedral comes despite protests from US, Orthodox Christian leaders and could inflame tensions with Greece, Cyprus
By Suzan Fraser
Several hundred protesters gather outside Istanbul's Hagia Sophia to denounce the deadly attacks on two mosques in New Zealand on March 16, 2019 in Istanbul. (Yasin AKGUL / AFP)
March 25, 2019, 2:02 am
Erdogan moots renaming Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia museum a mosque
Former church and mosque, now a museum, often sparks tensions between Christians and Muslims over Islamic activities held there
By AFP
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