“Prayer in Hagia Sophia is a right conquered by Mehmed the conqueror”, said Turkish Minister of Culture and Tourism Numan Kurtumlus commenting on the prospect of transforming the historical UNESCO site into an Islamic mosque.

Despite the the fact that both Unesco and the US State Department called in Turkey to respect the Hagia Sophia site, Turkish authorities are escalating their provocations towards Greece, after the Turkish Foreign Affairs Ministry replied to the statement made by Greece on the matter of the recitation of the Quran in Hagia Sophia, calling on Greece to respect all religions and become more democratic!

Greek President Prokopis Pavlopoulos said Turkey cannot hope to have its European prospects open when it failed to respect monuments such as Hagia Sophia.