Call To Prayer, Quran Verses Inside 'Hagia Sophia Mosque' In Istanbul

On March 23, 2020, a video titled "Hagia Sophia Mosque Sound Allah Call to Prayer 23/03/2020" was uploaded to YouTube. The video, which has the logo of the İhlas News Agency, shows two men inside the Hagia Sophia reciting the Islamic call to prayer as well as verses from the Quran. The Hagia Sophia was built in 537 as a church, was converted into a mosque in 1453 after the Ottoman conquest of Istanbul, and was converted into a museum in 1935. While the call to prayer has been recited in the building since as early as 1980, in recent years there has been more discussion about converting the building back into a mosque. In May 2019, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said: "A short time ago they converted the Hagia Sophia from a mosque to a museum. Inshallah, after the election, we will convert it in name from a museum back into a mosque."