Hagia Sophia opens for Friday prayers for the first time in 86 years

The Hagia Sophia in Istanbul opens for the first Friday prayers since authorities ruled that it could be converted into a mosque.

The historic Turkish site has been a museum since 1934.

But a Turkish court decided that the use of the site as anything other than a mosque was "not possible legally".

From this decision, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced that from the 24th of July, the 1,500-year-old heritage site would be ready for Friday prayers.

Globally, political leaders and religious leaders have criticised the move. The opposition party in Turkey labelled the move as a political decision rather than a religious one.

Initially, the Hagia Sophia was built as an Orthodox Christian cathedral, it only became a mosque 900 years later, after the Ottoman conquest.

Patriarch Bartholomew I, the head of the Eastern Orthodox Church, said that the conversion would fracture two worlds. Unesco also commented on the conversion, stating that they regretted the move, as it would increase tensions with neighbouring countries like Greece, which is home to millions of Orthodox followers.

But President Erdogan has defended the move as Turkey exercising its sovereign right.