Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday confirmed the reopening for Muslim worship of a mosque in Istanbul converted from an ancient Byzantine Orthodox church.
“The Kariye mosque, in its new form, will remain open to everyone,” he said, addressing a press conference with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
Greece’s PM, who had appealed against the conversion of the Holy Saviour in Chora, decorated with 14th-century frescoes of the Last Judgement that are still treasured by Christians.
The church was converted into the Kariye Mosque half a century after the Ottoman Turks' 1453 conquest of Constantinople.
It became the Kariye Museum after World War II when Turkey sought to create a more secular republic from the ashes of the Ottoman Empire.
Mitsotakis expressed his dissatisfaction with Erdogan on Monday in Ankara.
“I discussed with Mr. Erdogan the conversion… I expressed my dissatisfaction to him,” the Greek PM said after meeting with the Turkish leader.
