Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan carried out his threat for Quran readings inside the Hagia Sophia cathedral, know a museum and UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Celebrations were set up outside the monument on the anniversary of the 29 May 1453 Fall of Constantinople. President Erdogan had organised a muslim prayer session dedicated to Muhammad II.
The ‘fiesta’ started in the morning with the Turkish president greeting a crowd of boats that passed the Bosphorus to celebrate the Fall of Constantinople and start of Ottoman rule in the city.
Central to the Turkish celebrations was a model of the Wall of Constantinople erected outside Hagia Sophia.
READ MORE: Mosques reopen as Turks pray outside Hagia Sophia
The event was broadcast live on the social networks of the Turkish presidency with music and songs. It included a TV show organised by the Turkish Ministry of Tourism and Culture.
The president had announced that a verse of the Fall from the Quaran would be read inside Hagia Sophia.
READ MORE: 29 May, 1453, the Fall of Constantinople and end of the Byzantine Empire
Turkish Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy had made on-site examinations in Hagia Sophia on Friday morning to examine restoration works before prayers were held. He prayed at Sultan Mehmed II’s tomb, also visited Gazi Osman Pasha’s tomb and late professor Dr Semavi Eyice’s grave. “Hagia Sophia Fatih Madrasah, which is the symbol of the conquest right after the conquest of Istanbul by Sultan Mehmed II, is being revived in our period,” he told Daily Sabah newspaper.