Aya Sofia Mosque Stays a Museum: Turkish Court

By Sa’ad Abdul Majid, IOL Correspondent

ISTANBUL, June 24, 2005 (IslamOnline.net) – The Ankara Administrative Court rejected Friday, June 24, a lawsuit to cancel a decision banning prayers in the historical mosque of Aya Sofia and turning the worship place into a museum.

A lawsuit was filed by the Turkish committee for the preservation of ancient monuments demanding an abolition of a decision taken by the founder of the Turkish republic, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, in 1924 to turn the Aya Sofia mosque into a museum.

But the court rejected the suit, stressing that rules of administrative laws don’t stand a jurisdiction with such cases.

Once the Turkish committee for preservation of ancient monuments appealed the ruling, the lawsuit would be looked into again by the Ankara council of administrative courts, according to the Turkish CNN network.

Over the past years, protests have been organized by many Turkish NGOs and civil society groups to demand a re-opening of the mosque for prayers.

Sit-ins have also been held in front of the mosque from time to time to demand the re-opening of the mosque for worshipers.

Tightened Security

In 2004, the Turkish committee for the preservation of ancient monuments put forward a request to Turkish Premier, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, to issue a new decision on re-opening the Aya Sofia mosque, but the request was given the thumbs-down.

Anticipating protests, security measures were tightened around the place, with iron barriers placed in the mosque's open yard to secure the place.

Rugs were also taken away by the Turkish authorities for fears of Turkish citizens storming the place to forcibly perform prayers.

The Istanbul mosque of Aya Sofia is one of the most beautiful features in the city. Tens of hundreds of Turkish and foreign visitors flock everyday to the mosque to seek a close look of the beautiful place.

Aya Sofia mosque has also been a thorny issue in relations between Turkey and neighboring Greece, which has repeatedly been demanding Ankara to hand over the mosque to the Istanbul Orthodox Patriarchy, claiming that the place was originally a church.

The mosque was first built as a church by the Byzantine emperor, Justinian, between 532 and 537 A.D.

After Mehmet the Conqueror took Istanbul in 1453, he had the church transferred into a mosque.