Court considers status of Istanbul`s iconic Hagia Sophia
(WorldNews Turkey)

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey`s highest administrative court on Thursday began considering a request to turn Istanbul`s iconic Hagia Sophia, which now serves as a museum, back into a mosque. The 6th-century structure was the Byzantine Empire`s main cathedral before it was changed into an imperial mosque following the Ottoman conquest of Istanbul. Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of the modern Turkish republic,...