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Süleyman the Magnificent’s unknown grave in Hungary
Hungary´s seemingly endless flat landscape suddenly rises to great heights to form the peak of the Mátra Mountains. As you look through the trees, your lungs fill up with fresh air and your eyes feast on the vistas of the flatlands beneath you.
The stately Mátra heights are, as is the case in many other countries, also a spot for television antennas, this being the highest point in Hungary.
A little later, we went up to Visegrad Castle, which sits atop another high point in Hungary, to watch the flow of the Danube River, an important river for Europe, serving these days not only for transportation but also as an important route for goods. The flow of the water is smooth and gentle throughout. This giant river is no stranger; Turks are often told of it from a very young age. Adventurers who set out for Europe told Turks about this river and one of our great poets immortalized it in his work.
Our soldiers watered their horses in its flow and our martyrs took their last ablutions and final sips of water along its shores. When our eyes finally fell on the Danube, it was as though we could feel the excitement of our heroes setting out to battle along its shores so many years ago; we could even hear the snorts of their horses and the clanking of their swords. In the Ottoman armies, soldiers would be praised in comparison to one another based on how many times they had crossed over the Danube. One soldier might boast that he had crossed the Danube five times while the other would reply proudly that he had crossed the great river 10 times!
Famous Ottoman Sultan Süleyman the Magnificent, also known as Kanuni Sultan Süleyman, came to these lands 13 times and, though each visit had its own glories, his final visit was marked by illness and advancing age. The lands of Hungary were, for him, well-known, and on his final trip here he rode in front of the army, wearing white clothing reminiscent of a funereal shroud. He rode a white horse as he had done so many times before. This time, however, he was older and he was sick. And thus, this famous Ottoman sultan -- born in the Black Sea city of Trabzon -- died on Sept. 6, 1566 on Hungarian soil at the age of 73, his body no longer able to carry him.
Not many people know, though, that his inner organs were buried at Szigetvár in Hungary. The grand vizier at the time, Sokullu Mehmet Paşa, had decided that the journey carrying Kanuni Sultan Süleyman´s body back to Ottoman lands would take a long time and that the risk of a disagreeable smell developing was too great, so he decided to have the Sultan´s inner organs taken out in Hungary and buried there. After this, the sultan´s body was returned to İstanbul, where it was buried in the garden surrounding the Süleymaniye Mosque. And thus in the end, Kanuni Sultan Süleyman´s love of long journeys as well as his love for conquering new lands and vistas meant that a part of his body stayed on after death in Hungary. Somehow this seems fitting.
The area around the cemetery where the sultan´s organs are buried is beautifully ordered. It is a site Turkey can be proud of. In fact, right next to the cemetery stands a grand Ottoman fountain. This place is called the Hungarian-Turkish Friendship Park, built and set up with financial support and upon the initiative of the Turkish Republic on the 500th anniversary of Sultan Süleyman´s death. The park also boasts a statue of Hungarian commander ZrÃnyi Miklós, who was backed by an army of 2,500 soldiers when he fought against the Ottomans at Szigetvár Castle.
Szigetvár Castle
Szigetvár Castle still stands strong and straight with its many ramparts. The Ottoman army was able to take this castle only after a month-long siege, though Kanuni Sultan Süleyman never lived to see its actual conquest.
The resolute and courageous war tactics of Ottoman soldiers meant in the end that the castle had no other alternative than to surrender to Ottoman forces at the time. On Sept. 7, 1566, the castle finally fell to the Ottomans. Miklós, the Hungarian military commander leading the defense of the castle, was captured and executed. Despite the fact that Sultan Süleyman never lived to see the capture of the castle, three weeks after Ottoman forces took the castle, a mosque was built in Süleyman´s name in its central courtyard. Today that mosque serves as a museum for visitors to this historical site. The 110-step minaret built next to the mosque has been destroyed, though; its top covered instead with tin metal. Seeing this symbol of the Ottoman conquest of Szigetvár and the state it lies in today is quite touching for visitors.
The fact that the ramparts of this castle are still in good condition immediately attracted our attention. Ivy has grown over the ramparts so much so that you can barely see some of the stones that make up these great walls. The inner parts of the castle are lush and green, like a park. It really is incredible -- though a little bittersweet -- to finally walk around this scene, about which we have read so much in our history books.
As we walked around the plains of Mohács, we did not forget that this soil is where not only the inner organs of Sultan Kanuni Süleyman, but also the bodies of thousands of soldiers are buried. As the sun set along the horizon, the reddish tinge that emerged almost made it appear as though the epic battles which took place on this soil so many years ago had continued in the sky!
The Visegrad Castle, built on a high peak and near the border with Slovakia, was used many centuries back by the Ottomans as a control point between Esztergom and Buda. The historical Esztergom Castle has lost its towers and, in fact, as we approached it, we weren´t really sure if we could see it at all. If it weren´t for the museum and the giant basilica on its grounds, we would have had a hard time believing this was actually Esztergom. The stones that make up this site´s walls and ramparts have not withstood the test of time very well.
We looked everywhere to see whether or not any traces of the Ottomans remain here, but for naught: We couldn´t find anything. Despite the fact that the Ottomans ruled from this castle for decades, there is no trace of them left here. Our guide indicates a broken down structure which he says used to be a mosque, but which was later used for other purposes. We can see, looking carefully at the architecture of this dilapidated building, that it was once a mosque. In the end, though, we found the greatest proof that Ottomans were once present here: their gravestones.
We were thankful for the presence of these gravestones, for if it weren´t for them, there would be no other record of the Ottomans here. We examined these aged gravestones for a while and then recited a short prayer for the fallen Ottoman heroes who lie here.
http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=143214
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