Criminal complaint against President of Religious Affairs

* Photo: Mustafa Kamacı - İstanbul / AA

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İYİ Party İzmir MP and Chair of National Security Policies Aytun Çıray has filed a criminal complaint against President of Religious Affairs Ali Erbaş over the remarks that he uttered in his Friday sermony at the first Friday prayer held at Hagia Sophia in İstanbul on July 24.

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In his sermon, Ali Erbaş said, "Sultan Mehmed II devoted this magnificent sanctuary on the condition that it remain remain a mosque till the doomsday, entrusting it to the believers. In our faith, the property of a foundation is untouchable. It burns who touches it. The condition of the one who devoted is unalienable; who tramples upon it is damned."

As Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder and the first President of the Republic of Turkey, is the person who had his signature under the Council of Ministers decree that converted Hagia Sophia from a mosque into a museum in 1934, it is argued that the above remarks of Erbaş targeted Atatürk.

As the 10th Chamber of the Council of State annulled the decree converting Hagia Sophia into a museum, it has been opened to worship as a mosque.

In his petition to the prosecutor's office, İYİ Party's Aytun Çıtay has indicated that President of Religious Affairs Erbaş violated the Constitution as well as the Article 5816 of the Law on Crimes Committed against Atatürk.

Hagia Sophia was used as a church for 916 years. In 1453, it was converted into a mosque by Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II when the empire took over İstanbul. Under the Republic of Turkey, it became a museum. (AS/SD)