Displaying items by tag: constantinople

Ekrem Imamoglu, the candidate of the Kemalist opposition and winner of the first poll in the municipal elections in Constantinople, won again today’s the re-election vote and he is the new mayor of the city.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan commented on the 566th anniversary of the fall of Constantinople on May 29, 1453 by posting a celebratory tweet on his coal media account and praising Sultan Mehmet II (Muhammad the Conqueror).

The city of Constantinople (modern Istanbul) was founded by Roman emperor Constantine I in 324 CE and it acted as the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire, or Byzantine Empire as it has later become known, for well over 1,000 years. Although the city suffered many attacks, prolonged sieges, internal rebellions, and even a period of occupation in the 13th century CE by the Fourth Crusaders, its legendary defences were the most formidable in both the ancient and medieval worlds. It could not, though, resist the mighty cannons of the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II, and Constantinople, jewel and bastion of Christendom, was conquered, smashed, and looted on Tuesday, 29 May 1453 CE.