Istanbul
08 AUGUST 2007 -- ISTANBUL, TURKEY: A traditional drink vendor works the area around the Sultanahmet Mosque (popularly called the Blue Mosque) in Istanbul, Turkey. In the days of the Ottoman Empire men like this worked in the royal court. Now there are only a couple left and they mostly work in the tourist areas. Istanbul, a city of about 14 million people, and the largest city in Turkey, straddles the Bosphorus Straits between Europe and Asia. It is one of the oldest cities in the world. It was once the center of the Eastern Roman Empire and was called Constantinople, named after the Roman Emperor Constantine. In 1453, Mehmet the Conqueror, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, captured the city and made it the center of the Ottoman Turkish Empire until World War I. After the war, the Ottoman Empire was dissolved and modern Turkey created. The capitol was moved to Ankara but Istanbul (formerly Constantinople) has remained the largest, most diverse city in Turkey. Photo by Jack Kurtz
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