Istanbul
On May 29, 1453, the day of the capture of Constantinople, Sultan Mehmet II crossed the city on horseback to Hagia Sophia, where he had the Muslim prayer pronounced. This founding act converts the old Byzantine basilica into a mosque. At 21, the "Conqueror" fulfills the dream of his dynasty. He established his prestige and strengthened his reign, which would last another twenty-eight years.
Read also: Erdogan re-Islamizes Hagia Sophia and challenges Europe again
What does Recep Tayyip Erdogan think 567 years later as he goes down in the history of the Republic of Turkey as the ruler who returned Hagia Sophia to Islam? He who, after eighteen years in power, was delighted to have fulfilled his " greatest youthful dream" and paid his "debt to history" ?
Islamo-nationalism, or national-Islamism: this has been Recep Tayyip Erdogan's hobbyhorse for several years.The grumpy are warned. To denounce this decision - few in Turkey have done so openly - is "to be ashamed of the conquest of Istanbul ", a " feeling that should not exist among anyone who calls himself Turkish and Muslim ", assaulted the president on July 14.
Islamo-nationalism, or
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