Tayyip Erdogan

ISTANBUL — Thousands of Turks gathered near Hagia Sophia early on Friday for the first prayers there since President Tayyip Erdogan declared the monument, revered by Christians and Muslims for almost 1,500 years, a mosque once again.Crowds formed at checkpoints surrounding the historic heart of Istanbul, where thousands of police…

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan joined huge crowds on Friday for the first prayers at Hagia Sophia in nine decades, sealing his ambition to restore Muslim worship at an ancient site long revered in both Christianity and Islam. After the call to prayer rang out from four minarets…

Several thousand people including Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan have participated in the first Muslim prayers at Hagia Sophia since the controversial reconversion of the former cathedral into a mosque. The prayers come after a 10 July ruling revoked the Byzantine-era building's status as a museum, in place since 1934. Mr…

/ Shows / The Debate Issued on: 23/07/2020 - 21:01 THE DEBATE © FRANCE 24 Why now? Turkey's president is ordering a return to tradition for what's much more than a tourist attraction, but a monument for the ages: after decades of disputes, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has chosen to reconvert…

/ Middle East Issued on: 19/07/2020 - 16:28 Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan visits the Hagia Sophia or Ayasofya-i Kebir Camii in Istanbul, Turkey, July 19, 2020. © Murat Cetinmuhurdar, REUTERS Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan paid a surprise visit to Hagia Sofia on Sunday just days before the first…

ISTANBUL (AP) — Turkey marked the fourth anniversary of an attempted 2016 military coup Wednesday with ceremonies and memorial events for the people who died in the failed effort to overthrow the government that resulted in the arrests of tens of thousands of people. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, accompanied…

US President Donald Trump and Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan agreed to work “more closely” for a solution to the Libya conflict during a phone call on Tuesday, the Turkish presidency said. Erdogan and the US president “agreed to cooperate more closely, as allies, … to promote lasting stability in…

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump on Thursday said US companies were involved in many prospects in Iraq's oil business, as Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi declared his country open for American business and investment. Trump told reporters ahead of a meeting with the Iraqi leader that the US military currently had very few…

ISTANBUL—President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Friday that the city’s sixth-century Hagia Sophia, which became a symbol of secularism in modern Turkey when it was converted into a museum in the 1930s, would reopen to Muslim prayer as a full-fledged mosque later this month, a shift opposed by the U.S. and…

AL-MUKALLA: Several high-ranking Houthi military commanders were killed and numerous others injured when Arab coalition forces bombed a convoy in northern Yemen, military officials said on Monday. Rabia Al-Qurashi, Yemeni army spokesman in Jouf province, told Arab News that militia chiefs, including Houthi minister of defense Mohammed Al-Atefi, were visiting…