The decision to convert Turkey's Haya Sophia into a mosque was taken

The decision to convert Turkey's Haya Sophia into a mosque was taken

A court in Turkey has postponed a decision on whether to convert the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Haya Sophia into a mosque.

Following a 16-minute hearing on Thursday, Turkey's highest governing body, the Council of State, announced its decision within 15 days, the BBC reported.

Haya Sophia was built in the sixth century by order of the Byzantine emperor Justinian I. It has been one of the major religious centers of Orthodox Christians for nearly a thousand years since then.

When Istanbul became part of the Ottoman Empire in 1453, the structure was converted into a mosque. About five hundred years later, Turkey's first president, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, turned it into a museum.

With the approval of the Supreme Administrative Court, Turkey will have the opportunity to convert the museum back into a mosque.

Various media reports said the Turkish administrative court would rule on the matter on Thursday, but the court decided to delay the hearing.

Incumbent Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed his determination to turn Haya Sophia into a mosque at an election rally last year.

The country's Islamists have long demanded that the structure be converted back into a mosque, but secularists have opposed it. The proposal to change the form of Haya Sophia is also being criticized in the international arena.

 

The head of the Eastern Orthodox Church has spoken out against the change. Greece, home to millions of Orthodox Christians, opposes turning the Haya Sophia Museum into a prayer center for a particular religion.

In an interview with the Greek news agency Ta Nia, UNESCO Deputy Director-General Ernesto Otone said that Ramirez Haya Sophia's transformation would require extensive approval.

He said a letter had been sent to Turkey but no response had been received.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has also opposed a proposal to convert Haya Sophia into a mosque.

Last week, US Ambassador for International Religious Freedom Sam Brownback also called on the Turkish government to keep the facility in its current state.

However, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu is reluctant to listen to other countries or organizations about the change in Haya Sophia.

"It's up to us what we do with our country and our property," he told Turkish broadcaster 24 TV.

The construction of the Haya Sophia, an impeccably beautiful structure in the Fatih district of Istanbul on the west bank of the Bosphorus Strait, began in 532; Istanbul was then called Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire.