Ortakoy Mosque of Istanbul (2006-10-153)

Ortaköy ( Middle Village) is a neighbourhood within the Beşiktaş district of Istanbul, Turkey, on the European shore of the Bosphorus. it was originally a small fishing village, known in Greek as Agios Fokas (Άγιος Φωκάς) in the Byzantine period and then as Mesachorion (Μεσαχώριον, meaning 'Middle Village'). During the Ottoman era and into the first decades of the Turkish Republic, Ortaköy was a cosmopolitan place with communities of Turks, Greeks, Armenians and Jews. Today although the neighbou…