Tengri is the god of the old Turkic, Mongolian and Altaic religion named Tengriism. The Mongols called him Tengri, (depicted as Blue Sky) was the highest God of Turks and Mongols. The name "Tengri" (Tana-Gra) means "Ruler, Master of the Land"; there might be some connection with the Sumerian word for god Dingir.

In the pre-islamic Turkish worship of celestial objects, lies the usage of Turkish Muslims of the crescent Moon as their symbol. Incidentally, the crescent moon, was borrowed by other non-Arab Muslims from the Turks. We may note that the Arabs never use the crescent moon as their symbol.

How the Turks shed their blood, fighting the Jihad for Four Hundred years and finally gave up and embraced Islam, and later became the tormentors themselves to carry the bloodied tradition of Jihad into Anatolia (modern Turkey) and the Balkans up to Austria.
The Turks in Pre-Islamic times

Today we read in history that the Ottoman Turks carried the Jihad into Europe. The Turks besieged and sacked Constantinople. To many of us, the Turks before Ataturk reformed Turkey into becoming the Muslim world's first secular republic, were ruthless Jihadis, whose king was the Caliph till 1924, when Ataturk abolished the Caliphate. But we know little of the bloodied struggle that the Turks waged against Islam for 'four hundred years from 650 up to 1050. The first clash of the Turks with the Islamic Jihad took place when the Muslims in their surge through Persia reached the borders of the Sassanid Empire in Khorasan, near Central Asia. In those days the Turks ruled Central Asia. They have been referred to as Turanians by the ancient Persians of Zoroaster's time.

The Turks were so to say a multi-ethnic tribal cluster who were united with the bonds of language. Since ancient times, apart from grazing cattle, the Turks also used to attack settled people in Persia and live off the booty.

Deep in history neither the Mongols nor the Turks were Muslims, but in fact had waged a bloodied struggle against Islam. The Turks and Mongols were neighbors and had mixed ancestry since antiquity. Both held Central Asia between them when the Arab Muslim invaders appeared on the scene, after over-running the Persian Sassanid Empire in the year 651. Ironically the Turks had to struggle with Islam which came to them through the medium of the Islamized Persians who had been newly converted to Islam at the point of the sword by the Arabs.

http://www.historyofjihad.org/turkey.html

Roswitha....I really wish you would provide a link to the article. You do this many many times. It is only fair that the authors get credit, and the credibility of the authors be possible by knowing who they are.

Very interesting article Roswitha! Thank you for posting.

(Amazing how alameda starts to question the sources when she sees something that rattles her fur : islam wasn't sent by god, but by cruel jihadists.)

Istanbul was never sacked, except for a seremonic 1 day.

Mehmet II had the illusion (he had good reasons for it) that he had become the East Roman Emperor by capturing Istanbul. He would not let his future capital be sacked.

There were attempts not to disturb the the balance of population in the city. The Turks to live in Istanbul were carefully chosen from a certain group (a certain town) in Anatolia. No one else was allowed to move in for a considerable time.

Alfa - didn't you promise something!!!!!

Yeah, I know very well what you're talking about, don't bother researching this for me. I told Roswitha many times to include links with the sources. I pointed out to a different issue alameda...