Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan signed the decree on Friday afternoon allowing the operation of the Hagia Sophia as a “functioning mosque”, according to which the country’s General Directorate of Religious Affairs would take control of the building.

This is the relevant decree signed by the Turkish President, which was also published in the Turkish government gazette.

The Turkish President is scheduled to address the Turkish people on the issue of Hagia Sophia at 20:53 tonight.

Earlier, the Turkish State Council annulled the 1934 decision by which the then Turkish government had turned the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople into a museum, CNN Turk reported.

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Turkey’s Supreme Administrative Court ruled that Kemal Ataturk’s presidential decree of 1934 was invalid and paved the way for the monument to function as a mosque.

The issue of Hagia Sophia has drawn global interest as the historic monument is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, whileit was the greatest Cathedra of Christianity for a millennium.