Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan marked the 564th anniversary of Istanbul's conquest by an Ottoman sultan Sunday.

In a statement to commemorate the anniversary of the conquest by the Ottoman Sultan Mehmet II, Erdoğan said, "Istanbul, which had been a capital for different states and cultures since its foundation, has become the center of peaceful coexistence and tolerance under the fair rule of Fatih Sultan Mehmet [also known as Mehmet the Conqueror]."

"The conquest of Istanbul, which is regarded as one of the most important milestones of world history in terms of its social, cultural and political consequences, is a victory full of lessons for us and for all humanity," Erdoğan said.

In addition, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım issued a statement to mark the anniversary of Istanbul's conquest.

"The conquest of Istanbul has set a new direction for the world history in terms of political, social and cultural consequences," Yıldırım said.

On May 29, 1453, Sultan Mehmet II conquered Istanbul, then called Constantinople, from where the Byzantines had ruled the Eastern Roman Empire for more than 1,000 years.

The conquest transformed the city, once the heart of the Byzantine realm, into the capital of the new Ottoman Empire.