The Mesir Macunu festival of Manisa, Turkey, commemorates the recovery of Hafsa Sultan, mother of Suleiman the Magnificent, who was cured of a disease by the invention of a paste known as mesir macunu.

UNESCO: Intangible Cultural Heritage

Mr. HANSON: That was a very innovative method that the Ottomans used, say, after the 1600's, where they actually used Christian and infidel children who had been brought up into the royal court for key military and diplomatic and bureaucratic posts, on the idea that they were not beholden to a particular clan within Turkey that might threaten the authority of the sultan.

NPR: The History of Political Succession

Erdogan Toprak, deputy chairman of the opposition Republican People's Party, has said the prime minister "would like to bring the sultan back" - a reference to the old days of the Ottoman Empire before Turkey become a republic.

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