Conflict over the Use of Hagia Sophia: The Legal Case

Yakup Emre Coruhlu, Bayram Uzun and Okan Yildiz
Additional contact information
Yakup Emre Coruhlu: Department of Geomatics Engineering, Division of Land Management, Karadeniz Technical University, 61000 Trabzon, Turkey
Bayram Uzun: Department of Geomatics Engineering, Division of Land Management, Karadeniz Technical University, 61000 Trabzon, Turkey
Okan Yildiz: Department of Geomatics Engineering, Division of Land Management, Karadeniz Technical University, 61000 Trabzon, Turkey

Land, 2020, vol. 9, issue 10, 1-18

Abstract: The historical progress of Hagia Sophia encompasses four different periods. Dating back to 360 AD, this unique structure was the largest church built in Istanbul during the Roman Period. In the second period, Fatih Sultan Mehmet conquered Istanbul in 1453 and personally dedicated Hagia Sophia to his foundation as a mosque. In the third period, upon the founding of the modern Republic of Turkey, Hagia Sophia was transformed into the Museum in 1934. Finally, in 2020, the structure was converted once again to a mosque by a court decision. Ongoing discussions today have suggested that the structure be used as a mosque, a church, or a museum. In this study, the ownership rights of the monument and its cultural heritage status have been examined within the framework of rulings of the European Court of Human Rights. The study evaluates the 1934 decree preventing the owner of the property rights from being given authorization over the monument. The results indicate that there was a legal obligation to grant the use of Hagia Sophia/Ayasofya as a mosque in accordance with the property rights of Fatih Sultan Mehmet, who proclaimed the establishment of its foundation.

Keywords: Hagia Sophia; fused foundation; legal usage; cultural asset; right to property; ECtHR decisions (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/9/10/350/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/9/10/350/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jlands:v:9:y:2020:i:10:p:350-:d:418871

Access Statistics for this article

Land is currently edited by Ms. Carol Ma

More articles in Land from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().