LOC18:14
15:14 GMT
ISTANBUL, July 10 (KUNA) -- Turkey's top court on Friday annulled a 1934 Cabinet decree that had ordered Istanbul's Hagia Sophia to have become a museum, allowing it to be a mosque again.
The court made the ruling after having listened to concerned parties in a case lodged by the Permanent Foundations Service to Historical Artifacts and Environment Association, against the decision to turn Hagia Sophia into a museum after having been a mosque for nearly 500 years.
The court decision said that Hagia Sophia was defined as a "mosque" and this cannot be legally changed, Turkey's Anadolu news agency reported.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has signed an order turning the museum into a mosque immediately following the court verdict, according to local reports. (end)
ta.mt