AUGUSTE GAUVAIN
By “Oriental” he was referring to the Turkey and the Middle East. The demand much more than what is reasonable in the hope that they can appear to be magnanimous and generous be conceding elements and ending up with something reasonable at the end. Since then, the West has also adopted this approach to international negotiations as have most of the world. That way everyone can be generous and hopefully end up with a reasonable solution. Where the system goes awry is when one side things something is reasonable and the other does not.
King Constantine I of Greece Saint Sophia is the name of the Great Church in Istanbul (Constantinople) built by the Christians in 537. For Christians it was synonymous with the City of Istanbul which had been captured by the Muslims in 1453 and has been the capitol of Turkey and the Ottoman Empire ever since. A “dream” of some Christians has always been to recapture Constantinople, and this is what the King played upon despite the total, practical impossibility at the time.
