Thousands of faithful made their way into Istanbul's landmark Hagia Sophia on Friday to take part in the first Muslim prayers in 86 years at the structure that once served as one of Christendom's greatest cathedrals.

Its reconversion into a Muslim place of worship from the city's top museum is seen by experts as symbolic of Turkey's efforts to reshape its diplomatic strategy as a rift with the West widens and becomes increasingly bitter.

At the inaugural prayers on Friday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan joined prayers inside the sixth-century monument along with about 500 dignitaries, as he fulfilled what he has described as the "dream of our youth" anchored in Turkey's Islamic movement.

Erdogan issued a decree restoring Hagia Sophia as a mosque earlier this month, shortly after a Turkish high court ruled that the building had been illegally turned into a museum. The structure, listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site, has since been renamed "The Grand Hagia Sophia Mosque".

The decision to reconvert Hagia Sophia sparked criticism in the United States, Greece and other Western countries as well as from Orthodox Christian leaders. They called on Erdogan to maintain it as a museum as a nod to Istanbul's multireligious heritage and the structure's status as a symbol of Christian and Muslim unity.

On July 13, foreign ministers from member states of the European Union, at their first face-to-face meeting since the coronavirus outbreak, said they "condemned" the decision. EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell said there was "broad support to call on the Turkish authorities to urgently consider and reverse this decision".

Asked to comment on the criticism, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said: "We reject the word 'condemnation'.

"This is a matter that concerns Turkey's sovereign rights," he said, arguing that there were several mosques in EU-member Spain that had been converted into churches.

Erdogan had described the 1934 decision by the Turkish republic's secular, founding leaders that converted Hagia Sofia from a mosque into a museum as a mistake. He maintained that the criticisms leveled against Turkey over Hagia Sophia's return to a mosque were a "pretext" for enmity toward Turkey and Islam. His country will preserve the structure's qualities as cultural heritage, he said.

Zhang Bo, a researcher at the Institute of West Asian and African Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said Turkey is putting more emphasis on the Middle East and distancing itself from the West by emphasizing its identity as an Islamic country and striving to become the bellwether of Islamic states in the region.

In the eyes of some regional Islamic countries, Turkey's status of a secular state and member of NATO makes it different to its Islamic neighbors, Zhang said, adding that Ankara has long strived to join the European Union.

Changes in diplomacy

Ren Yuanzhe, an associate professor of diplomacy at the China Foreign Affairs University, said: "A series of moves, such as interfering in the civil conflicts in Syria, Iraq and Libya as it competes with Saudi Arabia, demonstrate that Turkey is paying more attention to regional affairs and trying to strength on its leadership in the Islamic world.

"Politically by alienating itself from the West and religiously, by holding up a religious banner …these are part of Turkey's changes in its diplomatic strategy."

Experts do not expect the Western pressure will reverse the decision to convert Hagia Sophia, as it is part of Ankara's grand plan to reshape its diplomatic strategy.

"The timing to reconvert Hagia Sophia, at the risk of offending its Western allies, was made after the decision was carefully mulled by the Turkish government," Ren said.

Agencies contributed to this story.

Contact the writers through cuihaipei@chinadaily.com.cn.