[EPA]
Two Greek tourists – a man and a woman – have been arrested in Istanbul after allegedly unfurling a Greek flag inside Hagia Sophia and recording the act on video, according to Turkish media reports.
The plain cross Greek flag bore a double-headed Byzantine eagle and the inscription “Orthodoxy or death,” Turkish outlets said.
The incident is said to have taken place on April 9 inside the historic monument, which was originally built in 537 by Byzantine Emperor Justinian. Following the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople in 1453, the building was converted into a mosque. It was later designated a museum in 1934 under Ataturk, the founder of the modern Turkish Republic, before being reconverted into a mosque in 2020.
Security camera footage released to Turkish media shows the couple inside the building, with officials attempting to intervene and stop the display of the flag.
Turkish authorities launched an investigation shortly after the incident and detained the two individuals at a hotel where they were staying, according to reports.
Following their arrest and the issuance of an arrest warrant, the pair were brought before the courts and remanded on charges of “insulting a section of the public,” Turkish media said.