A group of Turkish Islamic fundamentalists is calling for Muslims to protest outside the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople, Turkey demanding the once largest Christian Cathedral, now operating as a Museum in Turkey, reopen as a Mosque.
According to sigmalive.com, a group of fanatical Muslims issued a call to action via a large social media campaign with online videos and posters to other Muslims and show up at a protest on February 1 after the Friday prayer and push for the museum to be converted into a Mosque.
The date for the protest is not incidental, as it will mark 84 years to the day when the Hagia Sophia was turned into a Museum.
“We will pray with Allah. We are hoping this curse to be lifted from us”, one of the group’s organisers said.
Hagia Sophia was erected in 537 in honour of God’s Holy Wisdom (which is the name of the Cathedral). It was converted to a Muslim Mosque in 1453 when the city fell to the Ottomans. It subsequently was made into a Museum in 1935 by the successor of the Ottoman Empire, the Turkish secular state.