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Erdogan engineers his own conquest of Istanbul

The 563rd celebration of Istanbul's conquest was overblown, much like the omnipresent pictures of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's head on giant posters.
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Anyone trying to reach Istanbul’s international airport on its European side or trying to enter the city after landing on Sunday met with treacherous traffic. The holdups began around noon and continued until almost midnight. In Istanbul, impossible traffic is nothing extraordinary, but on May 29, it exceeded even Istanbul standards.

The reason was simple: People were celebrating the conquest of the city 563 years ago.

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