Celebrating the Fall of Constantinople
Istanbul Metro Murals, Taksim station, Photos by Jenny White
Excerpts from an article in Turkish Daily News:
As Istanbul’s municipality and governorship celebrate the 555th anniversary of the conquest of Istanbul, academics believe the significance attached to the celebrations has been increasing over the last decades due to a rise in Islamist sentiments in Turkey.
The conquest of Istanbul was not celebrated during the Ottoman period. The ceremonies first started in 1953 during the Adnan Menderes government period, said Cengiz Aktar, an academic at Bahçesehir University.
The celebrations symbolize Istanbul as an Islamist city, experts claim. Islamist segments of society try to create a myth around the year 1453 and around Fatih Sultan Mehmet, depicting the sultan and the period as primarily Islamist. They also want to construct a Fatih Sultan Mehmet, or Sultan Mehmet the Conqueror, figure almost equal to that of Atatürk, said Aktar, also a Turkish Daily News columnist.
However, neither Fatih Sultan Mehmet nor the Ottoman Empire was Islamist, as each is being depicted today, according to Aktar. He said there are some claims that Fatih Sultan Mehmet drank wine to celebrate the conquest. He (Fatih Sultan Mehmet) said he was not only Ehl-i Sünnet (a descendant of Mohammed), but also Ehl-i Rum (a descendant of the Greeks), said Aktar.
For the full article, click here.
JW: This is related to nationalism as well. Istiklal Boulevard (the former Grande Rue de Pera in the Kamil Pasha books) is the main thoroughfare in Istanbul’s entertainment district of Beyoglu, an area where non-Muslim subjects and foreigners resided in both Ottoman and Byzantine times. On this boulevard there is a MHP (Nationalist Action Party) office, the ultra-nationalist party (not particularly associated with Islam). From the MHP building a string bearing small MHP flags extends across the street, connecting on the other side to a Jewish shop. I saw a similar string of flags connecting a MHP office to the oldest synagogue in Istanbul, the Ahrida synagogue. The MHP offices were opened (on purpose, surely) directly across the lane. These flags appear threatening. On Istiklal, right next to the flags MHP hung up a banner saying, “Istanbul will never become Constantinople.” This refers to the belief, much discussed in this blog, that Greek Orthodox (Rum) and other Turkish minorities are out to divide and undermine Turkey with the assistance of Europeans, in this case the Greeks, who hope to get Constantinople back.
I notice that this is theme of the tile murals in the new municipal metro station in Taksim Square, which is the symbolic epicenter of Istanbul secularism and anchors one end of Beyoglu. The theme is the Siege, Conquest and Fall of Constantinople. An accidental artistic placement? City pride?
There’s a LOT to say about this but I probably won’t be the one to say it all. Let me just do a few bits and pieces:
He (Fatih Sultan Mehmet) said he was not only Ehl-i Sünnet (a descendant of Mohammed), but also Ehl-i Rum (a descendant of the Greeks), said Aktar.
First of all ehl-i sunnet does not mean a descendant of Mohammad, it simply means a person who’s knowledgeable in and follows the sunnah. ‘Rum’ in this context means ‘Rome,’ as in the Eastern Roman Empire, but yes the ‘Rum’s were Greek. ‘Ehl’ has two relevant meanings here, the first one is just ‘people.’ ‘Ehil olmak’ implies competence also, something you might be able to guess from its daily use in ‘ehliyet’ (which in this context roughly means certificate of competence, but commonly used to mean driver’s licence). Combined together, the intended meaning is probably that Fatih is claiming for himself the identity/belonging (as being ‘of Rome’) and the competence/authority of both being a follower of the prophet and a Roman emperor. We know he wanted the latter as he also called himself “Kayser-i Rum” (Caesar of Rome). Don’t take my word for it since I am no expert in any of this but I am pretty confident that I’m not way off base.
On this boulevard there is a MHP (Nationalist Action Party) office, the ultra-nationalist party (not particularly associated with Islam).
Not solely associated with Islam might be a more appropriate way to put it. MHP’s past is interesting. Especially after CKMP turned into MHP under Turkes (late 60’s) they started stressing Islam more alongside Turkishness. One cliche used to assert both identities is, or, at any rate, used to be ‘as Turkish as Mount Tengri, as Muslim as Mount Hira.’ You can look up Turkish-Islamic synthesis for further info (’Turk-Islam sentezi’ in Turkish).
The MHP offices were opened (on purpose, surely) directly across the lane. These flags appear threatening.
I understand why you’d say this, but I’m not sure it is warranted as far as Istanbul Jewry is concerned. The MHP would be more threatening to Armenians and Greeks than to the Jews. It was a common joke at the time that Alparslan Turkes called some of the Turkish Jews ‘Gray Wolves of Moses’.
Turkish non-Muslims and the state’s (including the Ottoman one’s) relationship to them can/should be investigated on a per-ethnic-group basis. I believe, for example, in the days of the empire the Jewish subjects were harassed most not by the Muslims or the state but by the Christians (for obvious reasons: blood libel, Easter sermons and such).
This refers to the belief, much discussed in this blog, that Greek Orthodox (Rum) and other Turkish minorities are out to divide and undermine Turkey with the assistance of Europeans, in this case the Greeks, who hope to get Constantinople back.
Yes. This paranoia has its roots in what happened in the 19th century as the Empire was shrinking. European meddling or any European involvement in even innocuous human rights issues can provoke a harsh reaction here. Here’s a short and cynical piece in the NYT from 1896 that I like using when the subject comes up.
During Fatih’s time, of course, the Ottomans were operating from a position of power and didn’t have any such worries. Another link I just remembered is this one from Martin Luther. He says:
Certain persons have been begging me for the past five years to write about war against the Turks, and encourage our people and stir them up to it, and now that the Turk is actually approaching, my friends are compelling me to do this duty, especially since there are some stupid preachers among us Germans (as I am sorry to hear) who are making the people believe that we ought not and must not fight against the Turks. Some are even so crazy as to say that it is not proper for Christians to bear the temporal sword or to be rulers; also because our German people are such a wild and uncivilized folk that there are some who want the Turk to come and rule. (emphasis mine)
Of course what he’s critical of is precisely the kind of thing that was openly advocated here after the WW-I by some, and perhaps still occasionally uttered in frustration today.
It is sad when some ethnic groups dream of unrealistic dreams. Can the Native Americans roam the Dakotas on their horseback with their buffalo herds? Can the British rule where the sun never sets? Should the Turks rule from the gates of Vienna to the Persian gulf again?
The same impossible dream is the Greek dream of taking back Istanbul (Constantinople) from the Turks. In other words, to turn back the clock.
Perhaps the Persian poet has said it best:
“The Moving Finger writes, and having writ
Moves on: nor all your Piety nor Wit
shall lure it back to cancel half a line
Nor all your tears wash out a word of it.”
by Omar Kyayyam
Erkin Baker