Greece to Turkey on the vandalism of Hagia Sophia's Imperial Gate: "Find who did it and bring them to justice"

The Greek Foreign Ministry has reacted to the vandalism against the Imperial Gate of Hagia Sophia, demanding that those responsible be brought to justice.

"We are appalled and saddened by the images of the vandalism against the Imperial Gate of the Hagia Sophia –a World Heritage Site– in Istanbul," the Greek Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

"We call on the competent authorities to do their due diligence in order for those responsible to be brought to justice and the damage to the Monument to be immediately repaired," the statement added.

The destruction of the historical imperial gate was announced by the Art History Association on its Twitter account.

Specifically, the Association in a post on Twitter complained that: "We found that the historic Imperial Gate of Hagia Sophia is in this condition and we photographed it, around 20:45 tonight (18.04.2022)."

The post also stigmatises the response of the security officer of Hagia Sophia, who stated that he was unaware of the incident and that the security cameras did not record it.

In fact, he allegedly told members of the Art History Association "it was nothing, do not worry, we will fix it," with them replying that they will report the matter to the prosecutor.

As they noted on twitter: "We will file a lawsuit both to identify those who destroyed the historic gate and to expel this person from this post as soon as possible."

Arrest of the people who destroyed the gate

Making a statement on the matter, Mahir Polat, Deputy Secretary General of the Municipality of Istanbul, said:

"The person or persons who caused this disaster should be identified through a camera. The matter should be taken to the prosecutor, as they intentionally caused damage to the number 1 historic building, Hagia Sophia."

The General Directorate of Institutions posted on Twitter that two Inspectors, administrative and technical, have been assigned to investigate the destruction of the Imperial Gate.

READ MORE: Hagia Sophia: The secrets that are hidden in the church’s underground world.