Gli ( 2004 – 7 November 2020) was a cat from

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

best known for living in the

Hagia Sophia Hagia Sophia (; ; ; ; ), officially the Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque (; ), is a mosque and former Church (building), church serving as a major cultural and historical site in Istanbul, Turkey. The last of three church buildings to be successively ...

, for which she became an

Internet celebrity An Internet celebrity, also referred to as an Internet personality, is an individual who has acquired or developed their fame and notability on the Internet. The growing popularity of social media provides a means for people to reach a large ...

, grabbing the attention of visiting tourists. Gli was born in 2004 and was raised at the Hagia Sophia. She gained significant media attention when the Hagia Sophia was converted into a mosque in 2020. Gli died on 7 November 2020 at a veterinary clinic in

Levent Levent is a neighbourhood in the municipality and district of Beşiktaş, Istanbul Province, Turkey. Its population is 2,911 (2022). It is one of the main business districts of Istanbul located on the European side of the city. It is situated ...

, Istanbul. It was announced that she would be buried on the premises of the Hagia Sophia. The

Instagram Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...

account @hagiasophiacat was dedicated to Gli and was followed by more than 118,000 people at the time of her death.

Life

Gli was born at

in 2004. A kitten of Sofya, she had two siblings, Pati and Kızım. Gli had only one offspring, a jet-black cat aptly named Karakız ("Black Girl"). Gli was loved by the tourists who visited Hagia Sophia, which was a museum at the time, and she became a symbol of the Hagia Sophia. Gli first became popular when

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

visited Hagia Sophia in 2009; he and

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (born 26 February 1954) is a Turkish politician who is the 12th and current president of Turkey since 2014. He previously served as the 25th prime minister of Turkey, prime minister from 2003 to 2014 as part of the Jus ...

petted Gli. After it was announced that the Hagia Sophia would be converted into a mosque, Gli was posted all over social media and mentioned often in the news, receiving a new wave of fame. Presidential spokesman

İbrahim Kalın İbrahim Kalın (born 15 September 1971) is a Turkish bureaucrat and academic who is the current director of the National Intelligence Organization (MİT). An academic specialising in Islamic philosophy, Kalın received his doctorate under the su ...

stated: "That cat has become very famous, and there are others who haven't become that famous yet. That cat will be there, and all cats are welcome to our mosques." Gli died in 2020 at a veterinary clinic in

, where she had been receiving treatment since 24 September. She was buried in the garden of the Hagia Sophia.

References

External links

* {{Instagram, hagiasophiacat 2004 animal births 2020 animal deaths Individual cats in Turkey Cats in popular culture Culture in Istanbul Turkish Internet celebrities Burials at Hagia Sophia

Life

See also

References

Further reading

External links