Turkey provokes by appointing permanent Imam in Hagia Sophia (video)

Tensions rise between Turkey and Greece

In a new provocative move, Turkey has appointed a permanent Imam at the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople. According to Turkish news agency Anadolu, the post of a permanent Imam had been vacant since 1935, but the Religious Affairs services, along with the Mufti of the Fatih region reached a decision to place a permanent Imam who will be responsible for the 5 Muslim prayers a day. The Turkish press covered the news in a celebratory tone reporting that the Muslim prayers will be heard from al four minarets 5 times a day from now on, instead of only twice. In July an Imam had recited passages of the Quran from inside the Hagia Sophia for the first time. Hagia Sophia was the greatest Christian Cathedral in the world for nearly 10 centuries, before it was turned into a Muslim mosque in 1453 after the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Turks. In 1935 the secular Turkish government turned the mosque into a museum.