Turkey's Historic Chora Church Switched to Mosque

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan transformed the ancient Chora Cathedral, one of Istanbul's most revered Byzantine structures, into a mosque on Friday, one month after the opening of the famed Hagia Sophia to Muslim worship.

The medieval church of the Holy Savior in Chora, founded near the ancient city walls of Constantinople, features 14th-century Byzantine mosaics and frescoes portraying scenes from biblical tales, reports Reuters.

They were plastered when the Islamic Ottomans captured the region in 1453, then put to life again when, alongside Hagia Sophia, the structure was turned into a museum by the modern Turkish republic more than 70 years ago.

Erdogan, whose AK group is embedded in conservative Islam, has portrayed himself as a leader of the religious Muslims in Turkey, leading tens of thousands of worshippers in the first prayers at Hagia Sophia in 86 years.

The move was sharply opposed by church officials and several Western governments, who claimed that the relocation of Hagia Sophia solely to Muslim worship risked worsening theological rifts.

Last year, the Turkish court annulled the 1945 government order to turn Chora, identified as Kariye in Turkish, into a museum operated by the Ministry of Education.

On Friday, an edict signed by Erdogan and published in Turkey's official gazette declared "the management of the Kariye Mosque be transferred to the Religious Affairs Directorate, and (the mosque) opened to worship."

The church was first built on the site in the 4th century, although much of the current structure dates back to the 11th-century tower, which was partly restored 200 years later after the earthquake.

Erdogan's edict on Friday did not state when the first Muslim prayers would be conducted in Chora, or what plans would be made for the Christian works of art there.

At Hagia Sophia, curtains have been drawn in front of an image facing worshippers of Mary and the infant Jesus.