Concurrent with the first Friday prayers at the Hagia Sophia Mosque in Istanbul, Turkey after 86 years, the Turkish government announced that the Hagia Sophia website has been launched and a book on its reopening as a mosque has been published.
According to ECO Cultural Institute quoting IQNA, the Turkish Directorate of Communications has published a book and launched a website on the reopening of the Hagia Sophia as a mosque and saying prayers therein after 86 years.
According to this Directorate, the book titled 'Hagia Sophia Mosque: The trust of Fatih Sultan Mehmed Han, common treasure of humanity' has been prepared in Turkish, English, and Arabic was distributed among visitors attending the reopening of the Hagia Sophia Mosque. Furthermore, the website "ayasofyacamii.gov.tr" has been launched in Turkish and English languages offering selected parts of the book and historical photos of Hagia Sophia Mosque.
For the past 86 years, Hagia Sophia had been serving a museum and is one of the historical monuments visited most in Turkey by national and international tourists. In 1985, the building was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List. On July 10, 2020, a Turkish court nullified a government decree issued in 1934 turning Hagia Sophia into a museum and turned it into a mosque after a 86-year. This decision of the Turkish government has met with many positive and negative reactions in the world.