TURKEY TO CONVERT HAGIA SOFIA BASILICA INTO MOSQUE OVER POPE’S ARMENIAN GENOCIDE STATEMENT

10:59, 20 Apr 2015
Siranush Ghazanchyan

Irked by Pope Francis’ statement on the Armenian mass killings,
Turkey is planning to convert the historic Hagia Sofia Catheral into
a Muslim prayer house, a top Turkish Islamic leader said.

“Frankly, I believe that the pope’s remarks will only accelerate
the process for Hagia Sophia to be re-opened for [Muslim] worship,”
Professor Mefail Hızlı, the mufti of Ankara, said in a written
statement released late April 15, the Hurriyet Daily News reports.

According to Hızlı, the pope’s statement “has reflected a
modern color of the crusader wars launched in these lands for
centuries.” These lands have long been the “standard bearer” of the
Muslim world, meaning many enemies, both from inside and outside of
the country, have been launching attacks with different methods.

“The statement that the Catholic world’s spiritual leader pope
delivered on April 12, saying Armenians had been subjected to a
genocide, is extremely spectacular,” Hızlı said, noting that the
pope’s statement was intruding on the realm of historians and was
hastily made.