Following a cabinet meeting in Ankara on Monday, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan spoke about the issue of Hagia Sophia for half an hour, Iefimerida reported.
According to Istanbul correspondent for OPEN TV, Maria Zacharaki, Erdoğan presented the conversion of Hagia Sophia as his great achievement.
In particular, he stressed that "the opening of Hagia Sophia is an example of the exercise of our national sovereignty, it is now the symbol of the Turkish nation and Islam."
"With the opening of Hagia Sophia, we are witnessing the rebirth of our nation," he added.
The Turkish President reiterated that Hagia Sophia will be open to everyone 24 hours a day. As he said, "Christians will be able to visit it, but they will not be able to perform their religious duties there." He also noted that 500 police officers will monitor Hagia Sophia day and night.
"It does not matter after 86 years how it became a museum then, but we have now restored it to its original status. "We found ourselves after 86 years with our faithful in this great mosque", he added.
