Church bells in Cyprus will toll in a funereal tone for five minutes on Friday at noon to mark the conversion of Hagia Sophia in Istanbul into a mosque.
The first prayers after the recent decision to turn the centuries-old monument into a mosque will be held on Friday in the presence of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The Cypriot Archbishopric said in a statement that church bells all over Cyprus will toll for five minutes “in view of the arbitrary, unacceptable and criminal conversion of Hagia Sophia into a mosque by the Turks.”
The same move will take place in Greece in addition to all flags flying half-mast.
Turkey’s decision unleashed a torrent of criticism from church leaders, who said the conversion to exclusively Muslim worship risked deepening religious divisions. Turkey says the site will remain open for visitors and its Christian artworks will be protected.
The Christian frescoes and mosaics adorning the dome and central hall of Hagia Sophia, a Christian Byzantine cathedral for 900 years before it was seized by Ottoman conquerors and served as a mosque until 1934, will be concealed by curtains during Muslim prayer times but remain on display for the rest of the time.
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