Erdogan-affiliated Muslim groups pray outside Hagia Sophia, demand re-conversion into mosque VIDEO

Hundreds of Muslims prayed outside the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul and demanded that the historic monument of Orthodoxy turns into a mosque.

The people gathered outside Hagia Sophia that is a museum at 4 o’ clock in the morning on Friday, May 13, with the slogan “Break the chains, Open Hagia Sophia.” They proceeded with the morning prayer.

The initiative was organized by the Anatolia Youth Association (AGD) and the National Youth Organization (MGV). The groups made the call to mark the anniversary of the conquest Istanbul by the Ottomans on May 29 1453.

The crowd gathered at İstanbul’s Sultanahmet Square in front of Hagia Sophia and chanted slogans “Break the chains, Open Hagia Sophia.”

Organizers from MGV and AGD made speeches before the prayer and demanded re-opening of Hagia Sophia as a mosque.

Both Youth groups are pro-government, religious-political and affiliated with Necettin Erbakan, the founder of the political Islam party in Turkey. Erdogan and the AKP are just successors of Erbakan’s Virtue Party after Erbakan was deprived of power by the Kemalists end of the 1990’s.

On their Twitter account the AGD/English has the motto of Erbakan “Life is Faith and Jihad.” AGDEnglish twitted a day before the prayer

AGD Anatolian Youth‏ @AGDenglish May 11

In a move of specific symbolism, the imam chosen to perform the prayer was Mohammed Ali El-Abbasi, who is assigned to one of the most important mosques of the Muslim world, the Meshid-I Aksa mosque in Jerusalem. Present was also the president of the association of clerics in Syria Seyh Usame Er Rifai.

The crowd left the area after the prayer.

From 537, the year it was constructed, until 1453, Hagia Sophia served as an Eastern Orthodox cathedral and the seat of the Patriarchate of Constantinople.

It was turned into a mosque by the Ottomans after they conquered the city.

It was secularized and converted to a museum in 1935, when the founder of modern Turkey Mustafa Kemal Ataturk banned religion.

It is not the first time such a provocative move towards the Greek Orthodox is taking place.

In June 2016, Erdogan had a muezzin inside Hagia Sophia calling for the prayers.

Rumors circulating before Christian Eastern were claiming that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan would go to Hagia Sophia to pray on Good Friday. Apparently also for Erdogan this move was much too provocative, he has dropped the idea.

However, right after group held its morning prayers, Erdogan was meeting with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras in Beijing  to talk about …bilateral relations.