The Hagia Sophia and the Republic of Turkey’s International Obligations

Dr. Leonard Hammer, University of Arizona

Turkey’s 2020 action to allow for Muslim prayer in the Hagia Sophia, a museum protected under the World Heritage Convention, seemingly contravenes a number of international obligations for the state. In this article, I shall examine two important international treaties relating to the protection of cultural space, the World Heritage Convention and the International Covenant on Social Economic and Cultural Rights, both of which have been ratified and relied upon by Turkey in the past. The article shall provide an overview of the responsibilities arising from these treaties as well as the problems involved in invoking some form of protection mechanism for sites like the Hagia Sophia, especially when a state alters its obligations to protect or preserve a particularly important cultural heritage site.