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Ottoman Mania Sweeps Turkey
ISTANBUL More than eight decades ago, Ertugrul Osman, an heir to the Ottoman throne, was unceremoniously thrown out of Turkey with his family. He lived to be 97, spending most of his years in a modest Manhattan apartment above a bakery. At his Istanbul funeral this September, some of the mourners even kissed the hands of surviving dynasty members, who appeared shocked at the adulation. Mr. Osmans send-off was just the latest manifestation of what sociologists call Ottomania, a harking back to an era marked by conquest and cultural splendor during which sultans ruled an empire stretching from the Balkans to the Indian Ocean and claimed the spiritual leadership of the Muslim world. Ottomania sometimes manifests in ways that would surely have made a real sultan blanch.During Ramadan, Burger King offered a special sultan menu featuring dishes popular in the Ottoman years. In the television commercial promoting the meal, a turbaned Janissary a member of an elite group of Ottoman soldiers exhorts viewers not to leave any burgers standing. Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2009-12-05 |
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