Three male and three female dancers were in Istanbul, and just after midnight on Thursday (27/11), they danced in front of Hagia Sophia to the song “The sacred grounds of the City,” a tribute to Constantinople and to the Greeks who grew up and lived there.

Mr. Grigoris Petropoulos posted the video on his social media account, writing: “The Dimitris Petropoulos Zeibekiko Academy dances on the sacred grounds of the City…!” The post quickly went viral.

@petropoulos.zeimpekiko Η Ακαδημία Ζεϊμπέκικου χορεύει στα άγια χώματα της πόλης..! Γρηγόρης Πετρόπουλος και Δημήτρης Πετρόπουλος🙏 Χασάπικο #akadhmiazeimpekikoudimitrispetropoulos #greece🇬🇷 #attica #zeimpekikopetropoulos #ζειμπεκικο ♬ Sunrise – Official Sound Studio

This act triggered reactions in Turkey, with many media outlets calling it a provocation, while some Turkish social media users claimed it was AI-generated.

SuperHaber reported:
“A Greek dance group provokes by dancing syrtaki in front of the Hagia Sophia Mosque, one of Turkey’s most powerful symbols.”

TrHaber posted:
“Provocation at Hagia Sophia! Greeks dance in front of the Mosque and upload a video titled ‘We dance on the sacred grounds of the city’.”

Dimitris Petropoulos, owner of the “Petropoulos Zeibekiko Academy,” told Mega:
“We decided to take a late-night walk in the beautiful city of Istanbul. We ended up outside Hagia Sophia and, as we always do wherever we are, we danced.”

He added:
“Behind us was the Turkish flag. We could easily have blurred it. We didn’t, because our intention was not to provoke anyone, as some claimed. The police were next to us—they didn’t bother us and paid no attention at all.”

He emphasized that on social media they received only positive comments, “from Turkish friends and Greeks alike.”

Regarding whether the video was meant to provoke, he clarified:
“If we wanted to provoke, we would have filmed the dance on the back side of Hagia Sophia where the bulldozers are.“