Istanbul, July 25 (SocialNews.XYZ) Thousands of Turkish people attended the first prayers at Istanbul's Hagia Sophia after it has been transformed into a mosque once again.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan joined the prayers inside Hagia Sophia along with several hundreds of invitees, Xinhua news agency reported on Friday.
Many of the worshippers, meanwhile, have taken part in the prayers at several designated areas outside of the monument.
On July 10, the Turkish State Council had approved the conversion of the status of the historic Hagia Sophia from a museum into a mosque, prompting sharp criticism from several countries, including Greece and the United States.
The 1,500-year-old monument, which first served as a cathedral and later an Ottoman imperial mosque, reopened its doors as a museum in 1935, a year after Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of the Turkish Republic, approved its transformation.
Source: IANS
About Gopi
Gopi Adusumilli is a Programmer. He is the editor of SocialNews.XYZ and President of AGK Fire Inc.
He enjoys designing websites, developing mobile applications and publishing news articles on current events from various authenticated news sources.
When it comes to writing he likes to write about current world politics and Indian Movies. His future plans include developing SocialNews.XYZ into a News website that has no bias or judgment towards any.
He can be reached at gopi@socialnews.xyz