could Istanbul withstand the turks if the door wasn’t left open

Thank you.Your post put it all very clear.

"To the city"

Which views do you mean? I have said quite alot of things..

#Most Turks view you as humans.#

Now akunsu , dont overestimate how Turks viewed the races they conquered. For them they were "reayas" and they were regarded as human flock , any Ottoman Turk could kill any Greek , Armenian , Arab , Bulgarian , Serb .... without having to answer to justice...

#It is a fact that there was a large jewish community in front of the "kerkoporta" that the Turks entered after conveniently "remembering" its existance, there are some historians that mention this as a fact (see T. Petsalis).#

As Phallanx wrote , although the City was given to a ( pointless ) 3 days of plunder , thereis not even ONE report of a Jew killed , during these days.I dont know , and it has not been established as a fact , that the Jews had anything to do with the opening of this small gate , but the fact of no losses from the Jewish community remains.

# John the Kern wrote:

Dear John..

If u do as u say , then u , clearly , have no sense of patriotism .I dont know why u say that all of us should be as u . Sorry , but i cannot accept this .IF the English had murdered some one from ur family , u probably would have spoken differently ( i wish u such a thing never happen to ur family )

U consider the Ottoman empire to be great , in terms of military and culturally ??? Can u give us some idea of the philosophical work that has been done during the Ottoman empire ??

As far as i know , even the man who introduced Sufism , Jelal El Din Rumi , who is considered to be one of the greatest philosophers of his time , was a Greek , not an Ottoman. Where do u base the asumption that u make about a "cultural greatness" ??

Of course and i agree with u that hate is a very bad sentiment and national hatred is of no logical sense , lame , as u say.

Today , what exists between us and Turks , is not so much the hatred that some people may still have , but a clear conflict of interests.Their interest is not to our agreement .That is all.

Isk.

   Mevlana Celaleddin Rumi wasnt Greek.

So u say Gazi , and maybe Rumi , means rum...

Celaleddin Rumi , is translated as "the excellent Roman i.e Greek" as Rumi's were called the Greeks of the time..

My questions , still hold.

Isk.

Thnks for the info Seko , which i already had , but thnks anyway.

Ur attempt to explain the term "Rumi" , as u probably can understand , is not only lame , but something more.

If u call somebody , a Hindu , this is to say which place of the world is coming from. Understandable. If u call Mevlana , Anatolian , it is probably correct , as i think that Afganistan belongs to the general area ( not sure though ).

Also the term "Rum" or "Rumi" was used to describe a descendant of the old Roman empire , which on the East was mainly a Greek empire , as Romans , have not continued their existence there , or they were Hellenised completely.In this East Roman Empire , the official language was Greek ( Latin had become a secondary language ) and the religion was the GreekOrthodox .

Even today Greeks are called "Hellinas" , "Greek" ( which is also a Hellenistic word ) , and "Romios" which derives from the word Roman..

So IF Celaleddin Rumi , used the term "Rumi" , was simply to emphasize , his ancestry lineage . He was of Greek origin , and i am curious why u and not only u , try to denounce that .Instead u should have produced tens of names from Turkish philosophers that advanced the philosophical analysis that was made 1700 years before , by Plato , or Aristoteles , to emphasize as "John" have said , the "greatness" of the Turkish culture . Instead we have entered a debate about Celaleddin Rumi....He was only an example..

Isk.