AlphaF, thank you for adding this information. Little by little we are drawing a picture of the era. I never knew about secret agreements between the Ottomans and Vatican.

Istanbul has a great symbolic value for Muslims. A Prophetic hadith promises Paradise to the leader who conquers Istanbul.

Good treatment of minorities is ordered in Islam. In this Muslims differ from Jews and Christians. Another question is how well people understand the teachings of their religion.

I mean the story would have made perfect sense even without the agreement with Pope...

only symbolic? military, political, strategical, commercial, imperial

In order to understand what a central place Ottoman Istanbul was maybe it is interesting to take a look at it from the periphery of that time, Cairo:

http://www.laits.utexas.edu/cairo/history/ottoman/ottoman.html

It’s hard to imagine what an insignificant place Egypt was on those days. Everything important was in Istanbul, a thousand kilometres away.

The conqueror of Cairo, by the way, Sultan Selim I was the predecessor of Suleiman the Magnificient who was mentioned above.

BELIEVE IT OR NOT (I can not prove what is written below, those interested can check the references provided by the original writer)

 ANOTHER LOOK AT SULTAN SULEIMAN THE MAGNIFICENT

http://www.odatv.com/n.php?n=muhtesem-yuzyil-muhtesem-yalanlar-1004111200

MUHTEŞEM YAHUDİ

Kanuni dönemi´nin ailelerini ve kurmaylarını gelin birlikte inceleyelim.

İktidarındaki ihtişam ile birçok batı ülkesinde Muhteşem Süleyman olarak anılan Osmanlı halifesi Kanuni´nin aslında muhteşem bir Yahudi olduğunu belirtelim.

Kanuni Sultan Süleyman bildiğiniz gibi Yahudi bir anneden doğmuştur.

Padişah Yavuz Sultan Selim´in hanımı, Kanuni Sultan Süleyman´ın annesi Polonya Yahudisi Helga (Hafza Sultan)´dır.

(S. Shaw, History of the Ottoman Empire and Modern Turkey, Vol. I, 1976. p.148)

Kanuni, Yahudi geleneğini evliliğinde de sürdürmüştür.

Kanuni´nin hanımı, Hürrem Haseki Sultan (Roxolena) Ukrayna sınırları içerisinde bulunan Rohatyn kentinde doğmuş bir yahudi asıllıydı.

(Andrée Aelion Brooks, The woman who defied kings, Michigan Universty, Paragon House, 2002, p.437)

Hürrem Sultan´ın kirası, Ester Handali ya da Ester Kira (ö. 159 adında Yahudi bir kadındı. Osmanlı´nın derin devletine hakim olan tek kadındı.

Önce Hürrem Sultan´ın sonra da Hürrem Sultan´ın gelini Nurbanu Sultan´ın sırdaşı ve sekreterlik görevini yaptı. Sarayda büyük bir güce sahipti.

( Canlarına tak eden Sipahiler tarafından parçalanarak öldürülüp köpeklere yedirilmiş )

(E.Nashim, A Journal of Jewish Women´s Studies and Gender Issues 13: p.49-67)
( Kira= Ekonomi Danışmanı. GOOGLE girin, ´´ Yahudi Kira ´´ yazın, Ara´yı tıklayın ve görün ! )

(Roxalana) Hürrem Sultan´ın kızı Mihrimah Sultan´ı, Yahudi asıllı olan Damat Rüstem Paşa ile evlendirmişti.

(Elli Kohen, History of the Turkish Jews and Sephardim, University Press of America, 2007. p.51)

Kanuni´nin göreve getirdiği 1550-1553 yılları arasında Osmanlı donanmasının Kaptanı Derya´sı Sinanüddin Yusuf Paşa, Damat Rüstem Paşa´nın da kardeşiydi.

(Sicil-i Osmani, Başbakanlık Osmanlı Arşivleri, Kültür Bakanlığı ve Toplumsal Tarih Vakfı, İstanbul.1996, Cilt:5, s.1515)

Sinan Paşa´nın Yahudiliğini, Türkiye Yahudi Cemaati´nin gazetesi Şalom´da şöyle anlatılmaktadır:

Kanuni´nin amirallerinden olan Sinan Paşa, ortaçağ kaynaklarınca "The Great Jew (Ulu/Büyük Yahudi)" olarak adlandırılır.

Açık denizlere yelken açtığında Osmanlılar tarafından ´Süleyman´ın Mührü´ adı verilen Davud yıldızı olan sancağı gemisinin gönderine çekerdi.

(Şalom - Melih Namer, Tarihe İz Bırakan Yahudi Korsanlar, 16 Aralık 200

Daha sonra Padişah II.Selim´in yerine eşi Nurbanu Sultan´dan olma oğlu III.Murat geçmişti.

Osmanlı tarihinde ilk olarak Valide Sultan unvanını alan Nurbanu Sultan bir Yahudi Dönmesidir. Bu dönemde Saray´da Yahudi nüfuzu artış göstermiştir.

(İ.Hakkı Uzunçarşılı, Osmanlı Devletinin Saray Teşkilatı, Türk Tarih Kurumu, Ankara 1945, s.88)

Yahudiler´in kutsal kitabı Tora, Yahudi anneden doğan çocuğun Yahudi sayıldığını belirtmektedir.

Yahudi Ulusu´nun büyük kurtarıcı ve İsrail´in Kralı saydığı Kanuni´yi bugün A.B.D´de unutmamış ki Amerika Temsilciler Meclisi´nin salon duvarına Akasya içerisinde bir Kanuni portresi yer almaktadır.

Akasya ;masonik literatürde sonsuzluğu ve ihtişamı ifade eder.

Kanuni Sultan Süleyman bütün Yahudileri sarayda toplamış ve onlara çok büyük ayrıcalıklar tanımıştır. Yahudiler en çok onun döneminde güç ve refaha ulaştılar.

(Encyclopedia Judaica, Jerusalem, 1971. Vol. 18, s.26

Interesting. (Hmmm...they always knew how to infiltrate, didn´t they?)

This Catholic historian, Dr. Marmara claimed in the earlier article that Hürrem Sultan was actually Italian according to Vatican archives.

I am surprised that the information is so conflicting. It is not so ancient history, literal sources are available and everything and still.

Mihrimah Sultan Camisi restore ediliyor

http://www.haberturk.com/kultur-sanat/haber/731355-mihrimah-sultan-camisi-restore-ediliyor

Mihrimah Sultan mosque in Ûsküdar (above) is going through a two-year restoration. The mosque will be repaired, cleaned and fixed from the great domes and minarets to the smallest details of wall ornamentation and the gilt of the holy books.

Mihrimah Sultan is one of the works of Mimar Sinan and it was accomplished in 1548 during the reign of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificient like many other landmarks of Istanbul. It was dedicated to the daughter of Suleiman and Hürrem Sultan. They say the architect was hopelessly in love with Princess Mihrimah. Great men do great acts to prove their love: Sultan Mihrimah mosque got a twin in Edirnekapı (below).

´´Mimar Sinan, bu eserinden 14 yıl sonra o güne kadar ilk defa padişah fermanı olmaksızın Edirnekapı´da surların yakınına yine Mihrimah Sultan´a ithafen ikinci bir cami daha yapmaya başlar. Bu cami, Mihrimah Sultan´ın statüsü iki minareli cami yaptırmaya yetmesine rağmen yalnızlığını simgelemesi anlamında tek minareli olarak yapılmıştır. Fourteen years after this work  -  it was the first time until that day that he acted without the Sultan’s command  -  Architect Sinan begins to build the second mosque dedicated to Princess Mihrimah close to the walls in Edirnekapı. Even though Mihrimah Sultan was built with two minarets, this mosque was built with only one minaret as a symbol of loneliness.’

Gündüz ve gecenin eşit olduğu 21 Mart tarihinde gün batımında Edirnekapı Camisi´nin tek minaresinin arkasından güneş batarken Üsküdar´daki caminin minareleri arasından ay doğmaktadır. 21 Mart tarihi, aynı zamanda Mihrimah Sultan´ın doğum tarihidir. Ayrıca Mihrimah ismi ´güneş ve ay´ anlamına geliyor.´´ On March 21st when day and night are as long when the sun sets behind the only minaret of Edirnekapı mosque the moon is born between the minarets of Ûsküdar mosque. March 21^st was also the birthday of Princess Mihrimah. By the way, Mihrimah’s name means ‘the sun and the moon’.

See these also:

http://www.turkishclass.com/columns/thehandsom/2010/08/17/koca-mimar-sinan-aga-architect-sinan-i

http://www.turkishclass.com/columns/thehandsom/2010/10/15/architect-sinan-ii-some-works-of-sinan

Kızgın Tophaneliler padişahı da korkuttu

http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/yazarlar/15869323.asp

Education and research were on a high level in the Ottoman Empire after the conquest of Istanbul. Learning institutions were under the Sultan’s special protection. Not only Islamic theology but also useful sciences like astronomy, geology, mathematics and medicine were favoured by Mehmed II the Conqueror.

A 2010 Hürriyet column by Soner Yalçın describes a serious setback of science in Ottoman Empire and shows how trivial renditions of religion may attract the common man to the extent that whole nations may be sent centuries back in time. What we see happening today in many countries also took place in Istanbul during the reign of Sultan Murat III (1574-95), the grandson of Suleiman the Magnificient and Hürrem Sultan.

The tragic hero of the story is the astronomer Taqi al-Din Muhammad ibn Ma’ruf  who founded one of the largest observatories in the world in Istanbul in 1577. The scholarship of Taqi al-Din was diverse:

Takiyeddin bin Muhammed bin El-Maruf Efendi (1521-1585) Şam ve Kahire medreselerinde eğitim aldı…İstanbul’a geldiğinde Osmanlı Sarayı’nın gözde âlimlerinden biri oldu. Nasıl olmasın: Dünyada ilk olarak hem de Avrupa’dan 10 yıl kadar önce ilk trigonometri tablolarını yaptı. 10’lu sistemle çarpma, bölme, karekök alma yollarını ortaya koydu. ‘Taqi al-Din Muhammad ibn Ma’ruf Efendi (1521-85) was educated in Damascus and Cairo schools. When he came to Istanbul he became one of the favourite learned men of the Palace. And why not: he was the first one in the world to make trigonometric tables, 10 years earlier than they were introduced in Europe. He presented ways to multiply, divide and take square roots within the decimal system.’

The Tophane Observatory was very much the work of Taqi al-Din:

Rasathanedeki kum saati, mekanik saati, gönye, gök küreleri, pergel ve cetvel gibi araçların hemen hepsini Takiyeddin Efendi kendi elleriyle yaptı. Rasathanenin elinde o zamana göre hayli gelişmiş gözlem aletleri vardı. Bu aletler yapılırken Avrupa’daki örneklerden faydalanıldığını tahmin edebiliriz. ‘Taqi al-Din made the observatory equipment such as sandglass, mechanical clock, set square, celestial spheres, compass and ruler by his own hand. The observatory had quite sophisticated means of that time for observation. Is has been presumed that while this device was prepared European examples were taken advantage of.’

Taqi al-Din’s observatory was destroyed according to the order of Sultan Murat III only five years later. The city had been afflicted by plague and earthquakes, a scary comet had been seen in the sky. People were scared. The religious adviser of the Sultan claimed the city had been cursed because of the observatory from where angels’ legs were peeked. Murat III had to give up to the demonstrators and have the observatory bombed. Needless to say, European science during the next centuries got a head start compared with the Ottomans.

And what happened to Taqi al-Din?

Rasathane yıkıldıktan kısa bir süre sonra kahrından öldü. ´He died of broken heart a short time after the observatory was destroyed.´

You people even dont realize that you worship Sun and Moon. None of you even make an attempt to conduct a research why you have Sun and Moon symbols.

Faith must be verifiable. There are must be proofs and witnesses to claims made by people you choose to believe.

Oh really? You have a crucifix symbol. So according to your poor logic, does it mean you worship a crucifix?

Carefull lemon, christians are notoriouse for venerating religious relics and icons.  christianety in itself is a very pagen religion.

There is the communion waffer that represents jesus´s body and the wine, representing his blood.  The famouse or infamouse shroud of Turin which supposedly was used to wrap jesus after his death and so many more relics.

Relics of Jesus, Mary and the Apostles

• Jesus´ baby blanket - Aachen, Germany
• Jesus´ foreskin ("Holy Prepuce") - Coulombs Abbey, France
• Jesus´ loin cloth worn on the cross - Aachen, Germany
• Pieces of the true cross - many locations, but primarily Santo Toribio de Liébana, Spain
• Mary´s cloak - Aachen, Germany
• St. Peter´s remains - St. Peter´s Basilica, Vatican City
• St. Mark´s remains - St. Mark´s Basilica, Venice, Italy

Relics of Church Fathers

• St. Ignatius of Antioch (d. c.107) - St. Peter´s Baslica, Vatican City
• St. Augustine´s Elbow - Annaba(formerly Hippo Regius) Algeria
• St. Augustine - Pavia, Italy
• St. Athanasius (d. 373) - Santa Croce, Florence, Italy
• St. Cyril of Alexandria (d. 444) - Alexandria, Egypt
• St. Thomas Aquinas (d. 1274)- Saint-Servin, Toulouse, France

Relics of Other Saints

• Venerable Bede - Durham Cathedral, Durham, England
• St. Cuthbert (d. 687) - Durham Cathedral, Durham, England
• St. Anthony of Egypt (d. 356) - near Vienne
• St. Francis of Assisi (d. 1226) - Assisi, Italy
• St. Teresa of Avila (d. 1582) - Alba de Tormes, Spain
• St. Gregory Thaumaturgus (c. 27 - Calabria

So before pointing out things about other religions, just remember, when you point at someone you have 3 fingers pointing back at you.

One last thing, when Constantinople fell to the hands of the Sultan, the defeated were not slaughtered, they were permitted to stay and keep practecing their religion.

Something to be said about that, seems tolerance and acceptance was much more prelevant back then than it is today.