“Prayer in Hagia Sophia is a right conquered by Mehmed the conqueror”, said Turkish Minister of Culture and Tourism Numan Kurtumlus commenting on the prospect of transforming the historical UNESCO site into an Islamic mosque. During a press conference outlining ways the Turkish government planned to boost tourism in the country, the Minister, a close associate of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, told reporters that the building was one of the major monuments of Turkish history “a masterpiece of a great civilisation that contain many remarkable monuments from the Byzantine and Ottoman period”. Mr. Kurtumlus visited the Hagia Sophia, which is currently undergoing restoration works, and told members of the press that when the building, which has been operating as a museum since 1935, reopens it was the prerogative of Turkey to use it as a mosque. “It is not on the immediate agenda, but the opening of Hagia Sophia for prayer is a right granted to us by Sultan Mehmed the conqueror, who turned it into a place of worship”, he said.