When Yunus Genc prays at Hagia Sophia on Friday it will mark the triumphant culmination of decades-long efforts by Islamist-rooted groups like his to convert the ancient monument, revered by both Christians and Muslims, to a mosque. Genc's Anatolian Youth Association (AGD) held protests and organized prayers outside the 1,500-year-old Hagia Sophia, while another group waged a series of failed legal campaigns until a top Turkish court last month finally ruled in their favor, annulling its status as a museum. President Tayyip Erdogan immediately declared the building - a Christian Byzantine cathedral for 900 years before it was seized by Ottoman conquerors and served as a mosque until 1934 - a mosque once more, with first prayers to be held this Friday.
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