Police officers stand guard in front of the Hagia Sophia or Ayasofya, after a court decision that paves the way for it to be converted from a museum back into a mosque, in Istanbul, Turkey, July 10, 2020. REUTERS/Murad Sezer
PARIS (Reuters) - UNESCO said on Friday its World Heritage Committee would review Hagia Sophia's status after Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan declared the ancient monument in Istanbul a mosque again.
Erdogan made the announcement shortly after a top court ruled that the sixth-century building's conversion to a museum in 1934 by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, founder of the modern secular Turkish republic, was illegal.
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