(Picture from Muslim prayer in Hagia Sophia on May 13, 2018)
A call to Muslims to Pray in Hagia Sophia in Istanbul in the early hours of Saturday is advertised widely. The call is for 4:00am.
Hagia Sophia, the emblematic Byzantine basilica has been turned into a museum in 1934, but in recent years Muslim Turks try to convert it into a mosque.
A similar incident took place last year as well, with Muslims praying in the church in a liturgy that was broadcast. Like in 2017, the Muslim prayer in the Byzantine church will take place almost two weeks before the anniversary of Constantinople’s fall to the hands of the Ottomans in 1453.
The prayer is advertised in a video posted on Youtube and it is making the rounds in Turkish social media.
Last year on May 13, thousands of Muslims gathered for prayer in the former Christian Orthodox church.