The mayor of Constantinople, Ekrem İmamoğlu, will be in Ankara on the day of the first Islamic prayer in Hagia Sophia, on July 24.
He will be at an event marking the anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Lausanne, and will not be in Constantinople or at Hagia Sophia for prayer.
Respectively, the leader of the official opposition to Erdoğan, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, rejected the invitation addressed to him by the head of the Directorate of Religious Affairs, Ali Erbaş, the Hürriyet newspaper revealed yesterday. Kılıçdaroğlu's answer was "I will not come."
On the contrary, the leader of the far-right Good Party, Meral Akşener, announced her participation on Friday and will even be present in a different part from that of the men.
A poll conducted by Optimar between July 10-14, following the decision to convert Hagia Sophia into a mosque, shows that 60% of Turkish citizens support the decision to turn the historic monument into a mosque. In fact, compared to June, the percentage increased from 48.2% to 60%. Only 27% were in favour of Hagia Sophia staying as a museum, while when asked if it should become a church, the percentage was zero.
Although he is significantly ahead of İmamoğlu, the percentage that approves of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan remains low. The same poll, published yesterday by Hürriyet, showed that 38.4% would vote for Erdoğan if elections were held today, and only 7% for İmamoğlu, 5.6% for Akşener, 4.7% for the Kurdish Selahattin Demirtaş and 4% for the mayor of Ankara, Mansur Yavaş.
Turkey-Libya-Malta tripartite meeting in Ankara
A tripartite meeting was held in Ankara under the auspices of Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar, Libyan Interior Minister Fatih Basaga and Maltese Interior and National Security Minister Byron Camilleri, following an official visit.
According to sources, during the meeting, regional co-operation in the field of defence and security and efforts to contribute to regional stability and peace were discussed.
