Istanbul
08 AUGUST 2007 -- ISTANBUL, TURKEY: Women at prayer in the Sultanahmet Mosque (Blue Mosqe) in Istanbul, Turkey. Men and women worship in separate room in mosques. Women are traditionally in the back of the mosque. Turkey is a secular country but well over 90 percent of the population is Moslem. 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/ZUMA Press
Add to Cart Add to Lightbox Download
