Kariye Mosque - CathNews New Zealand https://cathnews.co.nz Catholic News New Zealand Wed, 08 May 2024 21:54:42 +0000 en-NZ hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.7.1 https://cathnews.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/cropped-cathnewsfavicon-32x32.jpg Kariye Mosque - CathNews New Zealand https://cathnews.co.nz 32 32 70145804 Turkey's Erdogan opens former church to Muslim worshippers https://cathnews.co.nz/2024/05/09/turkeys-erdogan-opens-former-church-to-muslim-worshippers/ Thu, 09 May 2024 05:51:40 +0000 https://cathnews.co.nz/?p=170625 Turkey has reopened a mosque converted from an ancient Orthodox church in Istanbul for Muslim worship four years after the president ordered its transformation. The Kariye Mosque was formerly a Byzantine church, then a mosque, and then a museum. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared on May 6 that the Kariye Mosque was reopened for worship Read more

Turkey's Erdogan opens former church to Muslim worshippers... Read more]]> Turkey has reopened a mosque converted from an ancient Orthodox church in Istanbul for Muslim worship four years after the president ordered its transformation.

The Kariye Mosque was formerly a Byzantine church, then a mosque, and then a museum.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared on May 6 that the Kariye Mosque was reopened for worship remotely during a ceremony at the presidential palace in the capital, Ankara.

He had, in 2020, ordered the building to be reconverted into a Muslim place of worship.

His order followed a similarly controversial ruling on the UNESCO-protected Hagia Sophia - a cathedral in Istanbul that was converted into a mosque and then a museum before becoming a mosque again.

The changes were part of Erdogan's efforts to galvanise his more conservative and nationalist supporters.

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Turkey's Erdogan opens former church to Muslim worshippers]]> 170625