Head of Turkey’s Directorate of Religious Affairs Ali Erbas has changed his schedule and will not hold tomorrow’s Muslim prayer in Sultanahmet Square between Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque (Sultanahmet Mosque), but at the Fatih Mosque in Constantinople.
Ali Erbas did not justify his decision, but added that “we may hold Friday prayers in the square and the courtyard of the Sultanahmet Mosque in the coming weeks or later.”
It is worth noting that Ali Erbas was the one who, as he stated two days ago, had the inspiration to hold the first prayer after the reopening of the mosques tomorrow, May 29, in the square between Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque. In fact, he had said in an online interview that “on May 29, which symbolizes the conquest, by God’s will we will conquer those Muslim mosques that are the symbols of the conquest,” referring to the anniversary of the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople on May 29, 145,3 which is celebrated as the day of the “Conquest” (Fatih) for the Turks. With his statements, he strengthened the scenarios of turning the Hagia Sophia Museum into a mosque, as President Erdogan himself has done with his repeated statements since 2016.
Source: ANA-MPA
