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İlber Ortaylı's comments on Hagia Sophia spark debate: 'A hideous building for praying'

Prof. Dr. İlber Ortaylı's remarks regarding the Hagia Sophia Mosque, made while a guest on Müjdat Gezen's YouTube channel, have become a topic of public debate.

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Ortaylı stated, "It is a hideous building for praying. Its annual capacity is 20-30 thousand people.

3 million people cannot enter here. Is there a rule that everyone must know Hagia Sophia?" he said.

"3 MILLION PEOPLE CANNOT ENTER HERE"

Ortaylı used the following expressions:

"'Let's build toilets in Hagia Sophia', may God punish you. People don't go in there, 3 million worshippers, 3 million tourists cannot enter there, my brother, they cannot. You pray at the Blue Mosque. Can you pray at Hagia Sophia?

It is a hideous building for praying. No serious Muslim, lying down and getting up, prostrating, bowing…

A person who prays 5 times a day does not pray there. That structure darkens a person's soul."

Upon Gezen saying, "The most beautiful Blue Mosque is already 150 meters away," Ortaylı responded:

"You open the Blue Mosque, the sky is in front of you, the thing is in front of you... This place is not for you, it should be closed. Its annual capacity is 20-30 thousand people. Heads of state, clergy, students, those who study these... What is the business of others there?

Is there a rule that everyone must know Hagia Sophia? Does everyone enter the Kaaba, all Muslims? They circle around it."