Two Greek tourists held for waving Orthodox Christian flag at Hagia Sophia

Turkish police have detained two Greeks who waved a flag bearing a nationalist Orthodox Christian slogan in Istanbul’s landmark Hagia Sophia, a Byzantine-era cathedral that has been turned into a mosque.

A double-headed eagle and the Greek inscription “Orthodoxy or death,” a slogan used in ultra-conservative Orthodox religious circles, adorned the flag they waved.

“Two Greek tourists – a woman and a man – were arrested on Saturday in Istanbul,” Greek foreign ministry spokeswoman Lana Zochiou told AFP.

“The Greek consul general is providing them with appropriate consular assistance,” she said, without elaborating.

Surveillance footage aired Tuesday by the private Turkish television channel NTV showed the two took turns waving the flag on the upper floor before security officers intervened.

Turkey’s interior ministry did not immediately respond, when contacted by AFP.

The pair were detained on charges of “humiliating one part of the society”, according to NTV.

In 2020, Turkey converted the Hagia Sophia cathedral from a museum into a mosque, a move which sparked fury from Greece.

Greece lashed out at Ankara’s move to reopen the UNESCO World Heritage site for Muslim worship, with Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis calling it a demonstration of Turkey’s “weakness”.