MOSCOW (Sputnik) — According to the Hurriyet Daily News, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, as well as newly-appointed Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim participated in the ceremony that took place in the coastal Istanbulian Yenikapı square.
The newspaper added that hundreds of thousands of spectators were able to see an aerobatics show, fireworks, as well as a military performance dedicated to the conquest..
Constantinople, which was the capital of the Byzantine Empire, was captured in 1453 by the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II. After the conquest, Mehmed II moved the Ottoman capital to Constantinople. Despite the fact that Turkey used name Istanbul, the previous name of the city had been widely used in the European languages until the 20th century, before Ankara changed its name by legislative action.
