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.
A judge in the province of Pordenone on Friday converted a four-month prison sentence handed to the woman into a 30,000 fine plus 600 euros cost.
Comments
Very good news. More clampdown needed.
they did not ask her innerwear ... what if she has suicide vests and detonate it once coming inside ... where ever u are there u must follow rules of the land .if not why to go and settle ,30,000 euros not enough 100,000euros must ...
If ever the IGNORANTs of this world ever read the DIVINE LAW ... \THE QURAN\" they would have appreciated and satisfied .. but their ego dont let them to know the reality of TRUTH.
Dear Haters and the HOnest Non muslims ... READ QURAN atleast once in your lifetime the more early its better for YOU and your family to know the CREATOR of all that exist including YOURSELF and the evil going around in this world...
Thequranproject online is well explained with scientific facts and logic about the creation and the life after death..."
This is very bad....every human kind has his or her own democratic way of leading life....no one should be allowed to interfere with it.....European countries, people go with bra and underwear....judges support and enjoy with it...and need that kind of life....if someone protect their body and chastity from bad eyes....these bloody judges don't like it....
Add new comment