LAST UPDATE OCTOBER 29, 14:12
The Turkish government is rapidly converting the Chora Church into a mosque, shortly after the conversion into a mosque of another World Heritage Site, Hagia Sophia.
They installed a drop ceiling, scratched everything out, put plasters on the walls, and painted them in order to cover the wonderful frescoes and mosaics of the church and to erase every Orthodox sign.
In addition, the first Muslim prayer will take place on the 30th of October in the Chora Church, which will be used as a mosque. It is noteworthy that the Greco-Roman (Byzantine) monument was not used for religious reasons for 72 years. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan will reportedly attend the first Muslim prayer.
According to the Turkish news channel TRT HABER, the prayer was announced in a post on Twitter by the president of the Directorate of Religious Affairs, Ali Erbaş.
In a post with a picture of the Chora Church, Ali Erbaş calls it “Kariye Mosque” and states that it was decided to reopen it for Muslim worship on Friday, the 30th of October. “May God (Allah) be pleased with the prayers from the minarets,” he added.
However, the next day, on October 29th, the Directorate of Religious Affairs (Diyanet), announced the postponement of the prayer scheduled for Friday at the Chora Church, claiming that it is due to the continuation of the preparations.
* With information from in.gr, protothema.gr
