US continues to urge preservation of Hagia Sophia’s ‘multireligious history’

An official with the US State Department has reiterated Washington's belief in the protection of the "complex multi-religious history" of Hagia Sophia, the UNESCO World Heritage site in Istanbul and former Greek Orthodox patriarchal cathedral.

"Our position has not changed, we continue to view Hagia Sophia as a site of extraordinary significance and support its preservation in a manner that respects its complex multireligious history," an unnamed US State Department official told Greek reporters in Washington on Thursday, according to the state-run Athens-Macedonian News Agency.

The statement came a few days after a report indicating that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had ordered members of his cabinet to explore the possibility of turning Hagia Sophia from a museum into a mosque.

It also came a day after the publication of the State Department's...