Turks mark 558th anniversary of Constantinople's conquest by Mohammad

5/29/2011
By Taha Oudah

ISTANBUL, May 29 (KUNA) -- Turks marked Sunday at an atmosphere of love and amity the 558th anniversary of the fall of the Constantinople, the bygone capital of the Byzantine empire and latter-day Istanbul.

Constantinople fell at the hands of Turkish Sultan Mohammad II, known as Mohammad the Conqueror, in 1453 in what marked the end of the Byzantine empire which lasted for a millennium.

Thus, Istanbul saw today another glorious day with thousands of people who have their hearts throbbing with the city's historic triumphal entry having flocked to Esmat Pasha Stadium in the nearby Kocaali city, while chanting the old songs of conquest which revived the feelings of thousands.

These acts of remembrance revived the nostalgic feelings of thousands who recalled again Sultan Mohammad, the Conqueror, Sheikh Aq Shams Al-Din, Ulubatli Hassan, and Abu Ayoub Al-Ansari, may God be pleased with him, and so the joy turned into a gala with fireworks launched in the middle of the program and at its last.

Then, a group of Istanbul's youth have carried, amid calls of Allahu Akbar, stating Allah is the Greatest, as well as the military music a wooden ship signifying the ships which Mohammad II made his soldiers carry from the western coast of Bosphorus, and pushed them up a wooden ramp to the pinnacle of the eastern hill, the current, then taking the ship down to Qassem Pasha zone overlooking the coast, and launching it into water in order to set sail toward Istanbul.

This dramatic act sums up the military tactic used by Sultan Mohammad, the Conqueror, at that time to transport the Ottomanic Islamic army and reach the Constantinople's walls after Byzantine Romans had closed the entrance of Golden Horn with strong iron chains that prevent ships from crossing the Bosphorus Strait in order to prevent their arrival at the foot of Constantinople's walls.

The celebrations marking this historic event were held under the sponsorship of Istanbul's Metropolitan Municipality with the participation of a big number of Turkish officials, and at their forefront came Istanbul's governor Hussein Ahbeuni Mutlu, and the city's mayor Kadir Topbas who laid a wreath at the unknown memorial in remembrance of those who fell at the battle field.

Source: Kuwait News Agency (KUNA).
Link: http://www.kuna.net.kw/NewsAgenciesPublicSite/ArticleDetails.aspx?id=2170157&Language=en.