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.
The programme is being organised United for a Better Dakshina Kannada', a forum which comprises organisations belonging to different faiths including Ahinda, Buntara Yane Nadavara Mathr Sangha, Catholic Diocese of Mangalore, Dalit Sangharsha Samiti, Al Haq, Hope Foundation, Jain Samiti, Karnataka Christian Educational Society, Karnataka Komu Souharda Vedike, Karnataka Missions Network, KKMA-Karnataka, MFriends, Mogaveera Mahajana Sangha, Muslim Lekhakara Sangha, Sri Guru Singh Sabha Society, Talent Research Foundation and Yuva Vahini.
Comments
Naren....do a candle March for you cow maa first....then bharat maa....ha ha........we will be there in kadri....you will be repeating your bla bla.....sanghi paid goon....shitting in Singapooor.....poor fellow modiji can't help him to find a job here...what a pity in the bmj...chanters....
One Pakistani rant started chanting porkis slogan ...le farooq ....your kashmiri civilians who were killed are jihadis ... They shout anti India slogan ..sorry we dont consider them as indians at slll . they want benefits from India and loyalty to Pakistan ...any person who is born to their fathers will not support kashmiri stone Pelters ...nange doubt nin mele hahaha ..Kashmir belongs to indian nationalist ...bholo bharath mata ki jai ...no of unlikes shows this media is filled with pakis
Uri terror attack should be condemned and the wrong doers should be punished. But this brutal act did not happen all of a sudden. It was part of the two month long violence in Kashmir which killed nearly hundred people and injured thousands of innocent Kashmiris.
When you show solidarity with martyred soldiers, you should not forget the martyred Kashmiri civilians. Only terrorists deserve death. Civilians deserve your solidarity and those who are using pellet guns against innocent civilians deserve punishment.
United for a better Mangaluru now expanded jurisdiction till district borders? Or this is a new forum?
Lets join our hands together to support our armed forces that are protection our nation by sacrifying lives.
Btw, why caostaldigst.com did not cover yesterday's event at the same Kadri War Memorial wherein nationalist leaders paid tributes to the martyrs?
Add new comment