U.S religious freedom envoy urges Turkey to maintain Hagia Sophia as museum

U.S. envoy for international religious freedom Sam Brownback urged Turkey on Thursday to keep the Hagia Sophia as a museum rather than revert it back into a mosque as has been mooted by the government, Ahval reports.

“The Hagia Sophia holds enormous spiritual & cultural significance to billions of believers of different faiths around the world,” Brownback, United States Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom, said in a tweet.

He called on the Turkish government to keep it as a UNESCO World Heritage site and “to maintain accessibility to all in its current status as a museum”.

Brownback’s tweet comes after Greek Culture Minister Lina Mendoni sent a letter to representatives of UNESCO’s member-states informing them of Ankara’s plans to turn the monument into a mosque, Greek newspaper Kathimerini reported.

Turkey's highest court is set to rule on the Hagia Sophia’s status on July 2.

Hagia Sophia, originally built as a Byzantine cathedral in 537, was converted into a mosque following the Ottoman conquest of Istanbul on May 29, 1453, It reopened as a museum in 1935.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan asked his aides to conduct a comprehensive study on how to convert Hagia Sophia into a mosque earlier in June.