HAGIA SOPHIA

'I returned it [Hagia Sophia] to those who are its owners since the time of Mehmed the Conqueror,” he declared. “We determined our path well. Our path is not the same as theirs [the opposition]. Either I will take Byzantium or Byzantium will take me.'

'The Trump administration must press Turkey to refrain from any further provocative actions in the region against Greece, including threats of force, to create the space for diplomacy to succeed,” Biden said.

It is Mr. Erdogan’s commercial and military strategic alliance with Russia through which the Turkish leader has heaped scorn and contempt on Washington and NATO.