sultan 1  (Demonstrators attack billboards advertising the TV
series "The Magnificent Century" in Istanbul January 9,
2011/Murad Sezer )  A steamy television period drama about a
16th century sultan has angered conservative Muslims in Turkey
and sparked a debate over the portrayal of the past in a country
rediscovering its Ottoman heritage.  “The Magnificent Century”
chronicles the life of Suleiman the Magnificent, who ruled the
Ottoman Empire in its golden age. Scenes which have particularly
offended show a young and lusty sultan cavorting in the harem
and drinking goblets of wine, pursuits frowned upon by the
Muslim faithful for whom the sultan had religious as well as
temporal authority.  Producers of the series, which has drawn
huge audiences and boosted sales of history books on the period,
said they wove in imagined elements to the love story between
Suleiman and his favorite slave concubine, and later wife,
Hurrem, with the aim of presenting the characters as more human.
But for many pious Turks, inclu