Red Apple Tree

Kokkini Milia (Greek: Κόκκινη Μηλιά, meaning: Red Apple Tree) is Greek tradition, is a legendary place to which the Turks will be expelled from Constantinople (modern Istanbul). The legend recounts the future retaking of Constantinople by the Greeks, and the restoration of the last Byzantine emperor, Constantine XI Palaiologos, who has been sleeping in the Golden Gate (Constantinople) of the Theodosian walls of Constantinople as the Marble King, who will ascend the throne and worship at the church of Hagia Sophia.[1][2]

The Red Apple Tree corresponds to Monodendrio of the pre-Fall Byzantine oracles and prophecies told during the dangerous sieges faced by Constantinople. However, how and when Monodendrio was replaced by the Red Apple Tree and what the latter was based on remains unknown.

It is likely relevant to the Turkish legend of the Red Apple (Kızıl Elma), which symbolizes the ultimate goal of conquest. Constantinople was first labelled as the Red Apple, followed by Rome, Vienna and Moscow.

The legend and the term are also used in modern times. Left and right-wing nationalists who fear a break-up of Turkey if it joins the European Union call themselves the "Red Apple Coalition".[3] In early 2018, the legend was invoked by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan during the Turkish military operation against Kurds in Syria’s Afrin Region.[4]

References

  1. ^ Nicol, Donald M. (1992). The Immortal Emperor: The Life and Legend of Constantine Palaiologos, Last Emperor of the Romans. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 101–102, 107–108. ISBN 9780521894098.
  2. ^ "Οι θρύλοι του Μαρμαρωμένου Βασιλιά και της Κόκκινης Μηλιάς - HuffPost - Ειδήσεις και Απόψεις από την Ελλάδα και τον Κόσμο". HuffPost Greece (in Greek). 2019-05-29. Retrieved 2026-02-11.
  3. ^ Andrew Mango, The Turks Today, Hachette UK, 2011, κεφ. 11, "Κόκκινο Μήλο ή Ξυνά Σταφύλια"
  4. ^ Khalidi, Ali (22 January 2018). "Erdogan invokes pan-Turkic myth of conquest as army attacks Kurdish Afrin". Kurdistan24.
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