muslim prayers through crowds of worshippers who fill the nearby square turkey's president regine tayyip erdogan is also in attendance surrounded by senior officials the turkish leader participated in the service on the wrist cited verses from the. expressed his delight the reconversion. to live in them. this is been a yearning since our youth we used to say let the chains break and highest the fear open as a mosque we've ended an 86 year period highness of fear has now returned to its essence it was a mosque and it's a mosque a game. well let's get to grips with the history of fire sophia originally it was built by the eastern roman empires and then it became a mosque after the ottoman conquest in 1935 it was converted into a museum but earlier this month turkey transformed back into a mosque you need us close and topless a former greek ambassador to canada believes the change in sofia status has done to the president attempting to take attention away from a troubled economy. well i think that he was doing it all maybe also for internal reasons because his popularity is dropping now in turkey b