Trabzon’s Hagia Sofia museum to turn into mosque

A mufti of Turkey’s north-eastern city of Trabzon has announced a plan for turning the historical church-museum of Hagia Sofia into a mosque.

According to the Turkish-Armenian weekly Agos, the local religious authorities have already appointed an imam. “The process of making Hagia Sofia a place of warship will not last long,” Vesel Chaki was quoted as saying.

Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople opposed to the plan back in 2012. “There is no need to turn Hagia Sofia into a mosque. It must remain a church-museum. Muslims have many places for their prayers on this territory as it is, and most of them are empty,” he said.