The conversion of Hagia Sophia into a mosque was mentioned by the Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, on the occasion of the awarding of art awards in Istanbul, on Saturday night.

“It is the greatest honor of all to be remembered as the president who once again turned Hagia Sophia into a mosque,” you said characteristically, according to what SKAI’s correspondent in Istanbul, Manolis Kostidis reports, emphasizing that “we ended the slavery of Hagia Sophia.”

Specifically, Tayyip Erdogan said:

“Thank God, after 80 years of nostalgia, we all broke the shackles together and turned Hagia Sophia into its real function according to the covenant of Muhammad the Conqueror. The Hagia Sophia mosque has returned to its true form.”

“Once again I praise God for giving us this honor, for giving us the joy of ending the slavery of Hagia Sophia. Believe me, in the world of our own heart it is the greatest honor of all, to be remembered as the president who reopened Hagia Sophia”.

The awards in question have been established in memory of the militant Islamist Turkish poet Necip Fazil Kisakiurek, who was a staunch campaigner for the reopening of the Hagia Sophia as a mosque and had clashed politically with the Kemalist establishment.