Different Statements by Erdoğan on Hagia Sophia

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President and Justice and Development Party (AKP) Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said that they may change the Hagia Sophia's status to a mosque from a museum.

In a TV program he participated in, Erdoğan said, "Tourists come to the Sultanahmet Mosque. Do they make a payment? They visit Sultanahmet Mosque, Süleymaniye Mosque, Fatih Mosque... They would do the same at the Hagia Sophia. The museum status may be removed."

So, let's remember what Erdoğan has said in the last eight days on the Hagia Sophia...

"These are conspiracies"

A citizen called Erdoğan to "open the Hagia Sophia for worshipping," on March 16 in Tekirdağ province, in a rally ahead of the March 31 local elections.

Erdoğan responded, "First fill the Sultanahmet, then we will take a look at it. We built the Great Çamlıca Mosque. It counts as four or five Hagia Sophias. It is that big. It has a capacity of 60 thousand."

"This issue has a political dimension. You won't fill the Sultanahmet, which is next to the Hagia Sophia, and you say, 'Let's fill the Hagia Sophia'. Let's don't be played. These are all conspiracies. We know very well that what will be done when."

The Sultanahmet Mosque, also known as the Blue Mosque, lies close to the Hagia Sophia in the historical peninsula of İstanbul.

"I didn't lose my direction to be played like this"

Erdoğan also spoke on the issue in a TV program he participated on March 19:

"We shouldn't be played. These are provocations. I have other thoughts too. But these are not talked, these are done. For example, there have been an exhibition and a Quran reading. In a specific part, namaz also (Muslim prayers) can be done.

"Overcoming these is not a problem for us but what would be the pros and cons of that? There is a disadvantage. Its cost is heavy. We have thousands of mosques around the world. Do those who say that think what will happen to those mosques? They say those without thinking.

"They don't know the world. As a political leader, I didn't lose my direction to be played like this."

Why is the Hagia Sophia being discussed?

The perpetrator of the New Zealand mosque attack on March 15, Brenton Tarrant, mentioned the Hagia Sophia in his manifesto.

"We are coming for Constantinople and we will destroy every mosque and every minaret in the city. The Hagia Sophia will be liberated from the minarets, and Constantinople will be rightfully Christian owned once more," he said.

Erdoğan replied him in a rally, saying that "they will return in coffins like their grandfathers if they come," referring to the Battle of Gallipoli.

The Constitutional Court rejected an application that requested the Hagia Sophia to be reverted to a mosque in 2018.

(EKN/VK)