The Chora

Responding to calls that his scheduled visit to Ankara on Monday should be postponed due to the conversion of the Chora monastery in Istanbul into a mosque, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis stressed on Wednesday that this would not be the correct course of action as "open channels must be maintained."

The Archons of the Ecumenical Patriarchate note with dismay and strongly condemn Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's decision to proceed with plans to convert the Monastery of Chora to a mosque.

"This is yet another contemptuous act against religious freedom perpetrated by the government of Turkey," the Archons said in a statement on Wednesday.

In what is seen as a reflection of its inherently revisionist approach to Greek-Turkish relations, Ankara sent mixed signals just days before the planned meeting between Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the Turkish capital. 

The formal opening of a former Byzantine church in Istanbul as a mosque "insults its character as a UNESCO world cultural heritage monument belonging to humanity," the Foreign Ministry has said.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan formally opened a former Byzantine church in Istanbul as a mosque on Monday, four years after his government had designated it a Muslim house of prayer, despite criticism from neighboring Greece.

During a ceremony at the conference centre of the presidential palace in Ankara, President Erdogan will be connected directly to the Chora Monastery

In 2020 Turkey's government changed the status of Hagia Sophia from a museum into a mosque. Now, Ankara is looking to repeat this with another important UNESCO World Heritage site, Chora Church.

The Hellenic American Leadership Council, an influential Greek-American advocacy group, has launched a petition against Ankara's conversion of another important Byzantine monument, the Chora Church, into a mosque.

American Hellenic Institute (AHI) President Nick Larigakis penned a letter to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday concerning Turkey's renewed intentions to convert the historic Chora Church in Istanbul into a mosque later this month, according to press reports.

The newspaper Yeni Safak reported that the Turkish authorities are continuing with their plans to convert another significant Byzantine monument into a mosque, intending to open it to Muslim worshippers for the Friday prayers on February 23.