Mehmed the Conqueror

The 500-year-old shrine of Asude Hatun, the foster mother of Sultan Beyazid II, inside the Tahir Ağa Mosque in Istanbul's Fatih district has been left to its destiny as officials noted that they have no time to take care of the historical shrine.

A portrait of Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II, known as Fatih Sultan Mehmet in Turkish, will be put up for auction in London on June 25. 

Thought to be drawn by Italian painter Gentile Bellini in 1480, it is expected to fetch $500,000-$740,000 and will be sold at the world-famous Christie's auction house.

Turkey on May 29 marked the Ottoman conquest of Istanbul on its 567th anniversary with a series of events.

Sultan Mehmet II conquered the city from where the Byzantines ruled the Eastern Roman Empire for more than 1,000 years.

The conquest transformed the city, once the heart of the Byzantine realm, into the capital of the new Ottoman Empire.

Among the billions of people who have walked the earth since the dawn of humanity, only a few are rightfully remembered for their
exceptional skills and impact on history, and among these is Mehmet II, the Ottoman emperor who had the honor of conquering Istanbul and thus earning the title "conqueror."

In his wonderful "Book of Travel," famed Ottoman explorer Evliya Celebi (1611-1682) said that writers of all faiths regard Athens as the "home of wise men." Celebi sang the city's praises in a beautifully written paean after visiting Athens in 1668. He encountered a medieval city, where the Parthenon was still almost intact.

Turkey earned over 1.8 billion Turkish liras (some $322 million) in tolls from two bridges on the Istanbul Strait as well as roads in the first 11 months of this year, the Turkish Highways Directorate said on Dec. 25.

Some 419 million vehicles went through the toll booths this January-November.

The General Directorate of Highways (KGM) has announced that tolls for roads operated by the authority and Istanbul's July 15 Martyrs' Bridge and Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge have been hiked by 20 percent effectively on Oct. 7.

The first day of a road maintenance project on Istanbul's Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge caused a heavy traffic jam on both the European and Asian sides of the metropolis on June 27.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan celebrated the 556th anniversary of the fall of Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul) to Ottoman Turk forces on May 29 in 1453.

Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge, Istanbul, Turkey. (File photo by Serkan Türk)