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Interview

Hagia Sophia conversion blow to 'secular pride,' Orhan Pamuk says

Nobel laureate criticizes Erdogan's decision to revert UNESCO site to mosque

The Hagia Sophia will hold its first Friday prayer on July 24.   © Reuters

ISTANBUL -- Turkey's government should not convert the Hagia Sophia from museum back to a mosque, Orhan Pamuk, the country's first Nobel Prize winner for literature told Nikkei.

"I am angry," Pamuk said. "The Turkish nation is very proud to be the only secular Muslim nation and this was the biggest sign of it. Now they took away that pride from the nation."

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