Museum or mosque? Turkey debates iconic Hagia Sofia's status
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FILE - In this Friday, March 24, 2017 file photo, people walk backdropped by the Byzantine-era Hagia Sophia, one of Istanbul's main tourist attractions, in the historic Sultanahmet district of Istanbul. The 6th-century building is now at the center of a heated debate between conservative groups who want it to be reconverted into a mosque and those who believe the World Heritage site should remain a museum. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis, File)FILE - In this Friday, Aug. 17, 2018 file photo, visitors walk towards the Byzantine-era Hagia Sophia, one of Istanbul's main tourist attractions, in the historic Sultanahmet district of Istanbul. The 6th-century building is now at the center of a heated debate between conservative groups who want it to be reconverted into a mosque and those who believe the World Heritage site should remain a museum. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis, File)FILE - In this Saturday, March 31, 2018 file photo, Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, centre, accompanied by his wife Emine, right, waves to supporters as he walks in the Byzantine-era Hagia Sophia, an UNESCO world heritage site and one of Istanbul's main tourist attractions, in the historic Sultanahmet district of Istanbul. The 6th-century building is now at the center of a heated debate between conservative groups who want it to be reconverted into a mosque and those who believe the World Heritage site should remain a museum. (Kayhan Ozer/Pool Photo via AP, File)FILE - In this Monday, Dec. 21, 2015 file photo, a visitor from Greece touches the damp stone of a pillar named 'Weeping Pillar', where tradition says Emperor Justinian rested his aching head and was instantly cured, inside the Byzantine-era Hagia Sophia, in the historic Sultanahmet district of Istanbul. The 6th-century building is now at the center of a heated debate between conservative groups who want it to be reconverted into a mosque and those who believe the World Heritage site should remain a museum. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis, File)People visit the Byzantine-era Hagia Sophia, one of Istanbul's main tourist attractions in the historic Sultanahmet district of Istanbul, Thursday, June 25, 2020. The 6th-century building is now at the center of a heated debate between conservative groups who want it to be reconverted into a mosque and those who believe the World Heritage site should remain a museum. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)People visit the Byzantine-era Hagia Sophia, one of Istanbul's main tourist attractions in the historic Sultanahmet district of Istanbul, Thursday, June 25, 2020 photo. The 6th-century building is now at the center of a heated debate between conservative groups who want it to be reconverted into a mosque and those who believe the World Heritage site should remain a museum. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)FILE - In this Monday, May 11, 2015 file photo, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, the spiritual leader of the world's Orthodox Christians, listens during a meeting at the Patriarchate in Istanbul. On July 2, 2020, Turkey's Council of State, the country's highest administrative court, is scheduled to begin reviewing a request made by a group devoted to reverting the Byzantine-era and UNESCO World Heritage Hagia Sophia into a mosque. Bartholomew I noted that Hagia Sophia had served as a place of worship for Christians for 900 years and for Muslims for 500 years, and added: "the potential conversion of Hagia Sophia into a mosque will turn millions of Christians across the world against Islam." (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis, File)An aerial view of the Byzantine-era Hagia Sophia, one of Istanbul's main tourist attractions in the historic Sultanahmet district of Istanbul, Saturday, April 25, 2020. The 6th-century building is now at the center of a heated debate between conservative groups who want it to be reconverted into a mosque and those who believe the World Heritage site should remain a museum. (AP Photo)People visit the Byzantine-era Hagia Sophia, one of Istanbul's main tourist attractions in the historic Sultanahmet district of Istanbul on Thursday, June 25, 2020. The 6th-century building is now at the center of a heated debate between conservative groups who want it to be reconverted into a mosque and those who believe the World Heritage site should remain a museum. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)An aerial view of the Byzantine-era Hagia Sophia, on Saturday, April 25, 2020, one of Istanbul's main tourist attractions in the historic Sultanahmet district of Istanbul. The 6th-century building is now at the center of a heated debate between conservative groups who want it to be reconverted into a mosque and those who believe the World Heritage site should remain a museum. (AP Photo)People visit the Byzantine-era Hagia Sophia, one of Istanbul's main tourist attractions in the historic Sultanahmet district of Istanbul, Thursday, June 25, 2020. The 6th-century building is now at the center of a heated debate between conservative groups who want it to be reconverted into a mosque and those who believe the World Heritage site should remain a museum. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)An aerial view of the Byzantine-era Hagia Sophia, one of Istanbul's main tourist attractions in the historic Sultanahmet district of Istanbul, Saturday, April 25, 2020. The 6th-century building is now at the center of a heated debate between conservative groups who want it to be reconverted into a mosque and those who believe the World Heritage site should remain a museum. (AP Photo)FILE - In this Friday, May 29, 2020 file photo, a Muslim cleric recites the "prayer conquest" from the Quran, Islam's holy book, inside Istanbul's 6th-century Hagia Sophia the main cathedral of the Byzantine Empire which was converted into a mosque with the Ottoman conquest of the city, then known as Constantinople, in 1453, in Istanbul. The 6th-century building is now at the center of a heated debate between conservative groups who want it to be reconverted into a mosque and those who believe the World Heritage site should remain a museum. (AP Photo)FILE - In this Saturday, March 16, 2019 file photo, backdropped by Hagia Sophia, the Byzantine-era cathedral that was turned into a mosque and now serves as a museum, demonstrators protest holding a Turkish flag. The 6th-century building is now at the center of a heated debate between conservative groups who want it to be reconverted into a mosque and those who believe the World Heritage site should remain a museum. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis, File)People visit the Byzantine-era Hagia Sophia, one of Istanbul's main tourist attractions in the historic Sultanahmet district of Istanbul on Thursday, June 25, 2020. The 6th-century building is now at the center of a heated debate between conservative groups who want it to be reconverted into a mosque and those who believe the World Heritage site should remain a museum. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)A view of the Byzantine-era Hagia Sophia, one of Istanbul's main tourist attractions in the historic Sultanahmet district of Istanbul, Thursday, June 25, 2020. The 6th-century building is now at the center of a heated debate between conservative groups who want it to be reconverted into a mosque and those who believe the World Heritage site should remain a museum. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)
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FILE - In this Friday, March 24, 2017 file photo, people walk backdropped by the Byzantine-era Hagia Sophia, one of Istanbul's main tourist attractions, in the historic Sultanahmet district of Istanbul. The 6th-century building is now at the center of a heated debate between conservative groups who want it to be reconverted into a mosque and those who believe the World Heritage site should remain a museum. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis, File)