"If the Earth were a single state, Istanbul would be its capital."

"Whoever possesses Constantinople ought to rule the world."

"The kind of power mothers have is enormous. Take the skyline of Istanbul—enormous breasts, pathetic little willies, f…"

"Istanbul, a universal beauty where poet and archeologist, diplomat and merchant, princess and sailor, northerner and …"

"Istanbul was Constantinople. Now it's Istanbul, not Constantinople. Been a long time gone, oh Constantinople. Why did…"

"To illustrate how dramatically populations can displace each other over time, the historian E.M. Kulischer once remin…"

"Would all of Europe soon go the way of northern India? By 1529, with the Turks besieging Vienna, this must have appea…"

"The Ottoman Empire was, of course, much more than a military machine. A conquering elite (like the Manchus in China),…"

"A painted Whoore, the maske of deadly sin, Sweet faire without, and stinking foule within."

"In the heyday of the Byzantine Empire its rulers tried to manage affairs from Constantinople, either bringing foreign…"