Request to Hold Prayer for Atatürk at Hagia Sophia Denied

The Istanbul Governor’s Office has rejected a request to read a prayer (Mevlid-i Şerif) for Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder and first president of the Republic of Turkey, and his comrades at Hagia Sophia. It is noteworthy that the prominent Hagia Sophia has been converted into a mosque.

The request was submitted on November 2 by the Independent Turkey Party (ATP-BTP), according to Ermenihaber.am. The party’s leader, Hüseyin Baş, posted on Twitter, stating, “Our request to read Mevlid-i Şerif for the soul of Ghazi Mustafa Kemal Atatürk at Hagia Sophia has been denied. This means that Hagia Sophia has opened not for worship but for politics.”

It should be noted that November 10 marks the anniversary of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk’s death in 1938. In 2020, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan annulled the decision made by Kemal in 1935 to convert Hagia Sophia into a museum. Consequently, the historic structure reopened and now functions as a mosque.