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AFP
ISTANBUL
TURKEY'S top court on Thursday turned down a plea to open the Hagia Sofia, an Istanbul landmark that is now a museum after serving as both a church and a mosque over its long history, for Muslim worshipping.
The Constitutional Court rejected an association's demand that the Hagia Sophia be opened for Muslim prayers on"non-competence" grounds, indicating it was not the proper instance to allow any change, the official Anadolu news agency reported.
In its plea, the association had claimed that barring prayers at Hagia Sophia was breaching the right to freedom of expression and conscience.
The Haberturk website said that the demand had come from an independent Turkish heritage association.
The Hagia Sophia was turned into a museum accessible to all by the secular founders of modern Turkey in the 1930s. Secular Turks are wary of any moves to re-Islamise the building or have it reconsecrated as a mosque.
There has in recent years under the rule of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan been an increase in Muslim activity inside the museum, with Quran readings taking place on occasion.
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14/09/2018
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