Hagia Sophia was the main topic of discussion at the meeting of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey. In particular, as reported by enikos.gr, the Turkish Minister of Culture and Tourism, Mehmet Nuri Ersoy, was asked to answer questions from the MPs of the Committee regarding the protection and restoration works of Hagia Sophia.
Thus, among other things, he claimed that the issue falls within the competence of the Ministry and that they signed a protocol with the Directorate of Religious Affairs in this context and also referred to the issue with UNESCO.
According to Turkish press reports, Ersoy claimed that “since Greece complained about us to UNESCO, its representative came and made remarks. They are not bothered by the fact that it became a mosque”.
“The UNESCO vice-president who came, told me that their main criterion is for Hagia Sophia to be open for people to visit and for it to be protected.”
