Istanbul: Mosques in Turkey reopened on Friday for mass prayers after more than two months as the government further eased strict restrictions to stop the spread of the new coronavirus.
Turkey has been shifting since May to a "new normal" by easing lockdown measures and opening shopping malls, barbershops and hair salons.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said many other sites -- restaurants and cafes as well as libraries, parks and beaches -- will reopen from Monday.
Hundreds of worshippers wearing protective masks performed mass prayers outside Istanbul's historic Blue Mosque for the first time since mosques were shut down in March.
In the Ottoman-era Fatih mosque, worshippers prayed both inside and outside, with the municipality handing out disinfectants and disposable carpets.
"I have waited a lot for this, I have prayed a lot. I can say it's like a new birth, thanks to God, he has brought us back here," he said.
Another worshipper, Asum Tekif, 50, said: "It has a been a long time... we missed the mosques."
Turkey, a country of 83 million, has so far recorded 4,489 coronavirus-related deaths and 162,120 confirmed cases.
Prayers in Hagia Sophia
Muslim clerics on Friday recited prayers in the Hagia Sophia, the world famous Istanbul landmark which is now a museum after serving as a church and a mosque.
The prayers were held to celebrate the anniversary of the conquest of Constantinople, today's Istanbul, by the Ottomans in 1453.
"It is very important to commemorate the 567th anniversary of the conquest ... through prayers in the Hagia Sophia," said President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who attended the ceremony via videoconference.
The stunning edifice was first built as a church in the sixth century under the Byzantine Empire as the centrepiece of its capital Constantinople.
After the Ottoman conquest, it was converted into a mosque before being turned into a museum during the rule of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey, in the 1930s.
But there have been hints about reconverting the Hagia Sophia into a mosque. Last year, Erdogan himself mooted the possibility of turning Hagia Sofia museum into a mosque.
Such calls have sparked anger among Christians and raised tensions with neighbouring Greece.
In 2015, a Muslim cleric recited the Koran in the Hagia Sophia for the first time in 85 years to mark the opening of an exhibition.
After Friday prayers at the Blue Mosque, a small group of Muslim worshippers shouted: "Let the chains break and let the Hagia Sophia open".
The group was later dispersed by the police who stopped them from protesting near Hagia Sophia that sits immediately opposite the Blue Mosque.
Comments
If india gives him same punishment then assume that india is developed, in india criminals are given more respect than the victims.
Insane person. why dont you give him similar punishment....
Leave Bihar Campaign :)
Is controlling criminals important or fighting against Modi important? Nitish and KC Tyagi, please tell us
Shameless act from a political goonda. BTW had it been a BJP politician's son, CD would have had BJP in the headline. No I am not condoning the act if it was a BJP politician's son involved, I am just talking about how biased this channel is.
if the leader in the SUV was a BJP leader, your headline would have screamed the word BJP. Bajrangi RSS etc!
That politician's son is going to be get caught and will soon be released without facing any punishment.
that's how it happens in India!!!
in case of BJP politician, headline would have been ' BJP politician shoots 19 year old boy'. Since crime is committed by a non BJP politician, it only says politician in hearing.
This how the journalists manipulate the news.
Biharis Deserves... who voted corrupt Goonda Rajya
CM Nithish Kumar is in Kerala, he want the Kerala to be made same like Bihar.
Nitish Kumar is busy trying to cobble up a coalition in his desperate attempt to become the PM of this country. Meanwhile, the state is ruled by Lalu and his sons. So the jungle raj continues in Bihar.
its time to make bihar, up, wb ,delhi and kerala as independent nations. kick all these aholes from rest of india, let them solve their civility issue themselves.
gutter people
THERE IS TOTAL JUNGLE RAJ PREVAILING IN BIHAR SINCE LAST 25 YEARS DURING RJD- JD(U) MISRULE. NITISH KUMAR IS RUNNING GOVT WITH HELP OF CORRUPT MEDIAS WHO ARE GETTING HUGE MONEY I.E. HUNDREDS OF CRORES PER ANNUM FROM JD(U) GOVT FOR FLASHING ROSY PICTURE OF CORRUPT AND WORST NITISH GOVT. LALOO HAS RETURNED REIGN OF TERROR IN STATE WHERE HIS COMMUNITY IS INDULGED IN MASS ANTI-NATIONAL ACTIVITIES LIKE NAXALISM, MURDERS, DACOITIES, KIDNAPPING ETC. THIS IS BEYOND CAPACITY OF CM TO CONTROL IT. SO PEOPLE OF BIHAR IS BOUND TO SUFFER FOR ELECTING CORRUPT AND WORST PERFORMING GOVT WHEN THERE WILL BE NO PEACE AND PROSPERITY.
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