I've read these 2 pages and what i think is that a thread that began as a historical recall of what happened the day Constantinople fell to the Turks (29th May, 1453) has turned into a somewhat off the topic debate about what would have happened if and why did they do it and all that.

First and formost i have to say that i'm greek. This, because in a somewhat political argument ppl tend to be biassed, due to their nationality/religion/culture.

As far as the "on the topic" story, there is a great book by some french academic (univ. teacher) published in 1914 that has a lot of info about that last stand of the Byzantine world. I can't remember title etc. may be i'll search and post it. Anyway, the Byzantines had come to a point where the fall of the city was inevitable, turkish lands surrounded them and no one would really help. The Genoese and Venetians were short-sighted as they believed they would be better off with the turks in command, while that proved to be their downfall. The fall of Constantinople marked the end of the Medieval ages and the start of the "New ideas era" or whatever it is called in europe, as all these extremely knowledgable ppl left the city for italy mainly and from there their ideas spread to the rest of the continent.

As far as the rest of the topic:

Istanbull indeed derives from " εις την πόλιν " which is greek and means " in the city ". The name changed to that during the "turkalization" of turkey with other names changing, like that of Smyrna which became "Ismir".

The slavic alphabet was given to these ppl by Cyril and Methodios, two monks after orders of the Byz Emperor of the time (was it Basilios Boulgaroktonos?). It didn't "happen" in boulgarian schools, were did you find that? After their death, these two monks were canonized (became saints) by the church. Thats why the today slavic alphabet used by former Yugoslavia, Boulgaria, Romania, Russia etc. is so similar to the greek alphabet.

Some national hero is a loyal vassal to his nations' enemies for some time? Well, that's not a new one, many if not all were like that: Vlad Dracul of Romania was a vassal of the Sultan (yes it's that guy from where you get the "Count Dracula" name, but the actuall blood drinking thing was a woman, actually a countess in Terpoviche(sp?) of romania in the 1500's), Bruce of Scotland was a vassal of the English king (i think, not too sure) and King Mithridates of Pontus was also a vassal of the Romans, although he ended in their most feared enemy, even more than Hannibal Barca.

Visiting Istanbull or turkey in general? Well, let me think, wasn't it in Istanbull that a bus full of greek tourists was set on fire and most of them (some 30 ppl) were burnt alive about two years ago? Wasn't it in Istanbull that a young woman was killed (in a gruessome way) by her father and brother, cos she lived with the man she loved without being married, some months ago? Ok, i'll visit, but let me take a fire insurance first!

Agia Sofia (Saint Sofia) church changed into a mosque, that's only natural. They could built their mosque, but it was cheaper the other way around. They did built 4 minareds (or what ever they are called) around it tho, prolly to prove they can do sth taller .

To the Serbian poster: (sorry i can't remember your name) although i can understand your frastration about your nation being under the turkish rule for so much time (greece was also) there's nothing we can do about it, our ancestors took care of that. What we can do is strive to cover the lost ground. I think greece has done magor steps in catching up to the rest of the europe (industry-wise) and i hope serbia (and the other nations of former Yogoslavia) has recovered from the wounds of the civil war and is doing well also. Indeed, when one nation is occupied by another, it's usually because the victor is a more civilised one or at least better in some ways than the loosers. Thus, although these who lost their indepedence can actually gain something in the long term (as did the "barbaric" tribes from the romans) and the africans by the english/french etc. i don't see how any of the nations ruled by the turks gained anything. The greeks actually had 3500 years of history at that time (the knossos discs written in grammic A and B originate back to ~2000BC). Constantinople was the most (by far) civilised city in the world at that time. So, i don't see how any of the nations conquered by the turks gained absolutely anything from it, let alone being conquered is bad enough. I mean, if you ask me, "which nation do you NOT want to be conquered by), i'll certainly know the answer.

A last thing, if you feel attacked/flammed or whatever by anything i say here, you can report me. I'd be really happy as i certainly prefer it over to what your great-great grandfather would have done to mine.