Date : 29/05/2011
By Taha Oudah (with photos)
ISTANBUL, May 29 (KUNA) -- Turks marked Sunday at an atmosphere of love and
amity the 558th anniversary of the fall of the Constantinopl, the bygone
capital of the Byzantine empire and latter-day Istanbul.
Constantinople fell at the hands of Turkish Sutlan 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 rememberance 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. (end)
ta.aff
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