Many political and religious leaders have decried Turkey"s decision to reverse the Hagia Sophia"s status from museum to mosque, as reported by Reuters (among other media) on 10 July 2020. President Erdogan gave the decree after the State Council ruled that the 1500 year old Christian cathedral should now only be used as a mosque. According to the New York Times reporting on 14 July 2020: "The first prayer at the Hagia Sophia mosque will take place on July 24, the anniversary of the Treaty of Lausanne, signed between the Allied powers and Turkey, which drew the boundaries of modern Turkey. Mr Erdogan will want the Western world especially to watch closely, because the ceremony will represent what he considers the reclamation of Turkish sovereignty from its clutches." Michael Bosch, persecution analyst at World Watch Research, comments: "Converting the building back into a mosque has been a longstanding wish of many of Turkey"s Islamists. For them, this signals the end of the humiliation of the secular rule of Ataturk, who changed the Hagia Sophia from being a mosque (since the fall of Constantinople in 1453) into a museum in 1934. Over the last decade, President Erdogan has been increasingly Islamizing the country and this is a very symbolic step to have taken. However, the move cannot be seen separately from Erdogan"s need for popular support (BESA, 16 July 2020), what with the economy being seriously affected by the Covid-19 pandemic and with two ongoing military confrontations in Syria and Libya. The nationalistic element, showing the world that Turkey is a sovereign nation who dares to confront the Christian West, is probably just as important as the religious element." Michael Bosch adds: "But more significant than just the change in status of an historic building is the signal it sends to Turkish Christians, whether from an historical Christian or Muslim background. It is yet another warning that they are not truly part of Turkish identity in the eyes of the government."