Turkey formally opens another former Byzantine-era church as a mosque

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has formally opened a former Byzantine church in Istanbul as a mosque. The move came four years after Erdogan’s government had designated it a Muslim house of prayer. The Church of St. Saviour in Chora is known as Kariye in Turkey. It was formally opened on Monday following years of restoration. Turkey converted the structure into a mosque in 2020. It came soon after it similarly turned Istanbul’s landmark Haghia Sophia into a Muslim house of prayer. Both conversions drew praise from Muslim faithful but criticism from Greece and other countries who had urged Turkey to protect the monuments.