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Erdogan Plans Controversial Quran Reading at UNESCO Site

Anthee Carassava

   ATHENS, GREECE - For over a thousand years, Istanbul's Hagia Sophia
   operated as the biggest Greek Orthodox Christian church before being
   converted into a mosque, then a museum and, most recently, a United
   Nations-designated cultural landmark.

   At the direction of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a reading
   of the Quran will take place Friday at the ancient building.

   In announcing his decision, Erdogan said the Conquest Sura, a section
   of the Quran, would be recited at the site, and that prayers would also
   be held as part of a celebration organized by the country's culture
   ministry in commemoration of the fall of the Byzantine empire in 1453.

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