But proposed changes to
Taksim Square have seen it become the flashpoint for protests that have
swept through Turkey in the past week, leaving thousands injured and
focusing the world's attention on the government of Prime Minister Recep
Tayyip Erdogan.
Taksim has been no
stranger to violence. In 1977, at least 34 protesters died during May
Day clashes with police. May 1 rallies in the square were banned in 1980
and were only allowed to legally resume in 2010. On May Day this year,
there were riots after city authorities again refused to grant trade
unions and youth groups permission to demonstrate in Taksim, blaming
construction work being carried out in the square.
Professor Ersin Kalaycioglu,
professor of political science at Istanbul's Sabanci University, said
significantly, Taksim Square was also known as "republic square,"
because it was built by the Republic of Turkey's founding fathers to
commemorate the war of liberation. "Taksim Square is connected to
Istiklal Caddesi -- Independence Avenue -- and Cumhuriyet Caddesi -- the
Avenue of the Republic. So there is a lot of symbolism that has to do
with the Turkish Republic," he said.
The Turkish word "taksim"
translates as "divide" and Kalaycioglu said Taksim Square was so-named
because the area used to be the site of Istanbul's main reservoir, where
the water was divided up.
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In the 20th Century and
earlier, the area was only partially inhabited, he said, housing a
military barracks and military training ground and a cemetery running
down the slopes and a military hospital that still remains.
"In the 1930s the
cemetery was moved to another part of town and the area was opened up
for apartment buildings -- and at one point it was one of the 'poshest'
parts of the city," he said. "Most of the apartment buildings face the
Bosphorus [the strait that connects the Black Sea and the Sea of
Marmara]," he said. "Because of its majestic view, [Taksim] is an
attraction in its own right." It was estimated that millions of people
went through the area to work every day, Kalaycioglu said.
Since the protests,
however, Taksim has been blocked to traffic. This impromptu
pedestrianization inadvertently reflects the authorities' plan to divert
all traffic from the square. Kalaycioglu said plans to take the traffic
underground included a pedestrian curb but after the tunnel was dug it
was discovered that not enough room had been allowed for foot traffic.
That was when the government decided to slice off part of Taksim's Gezi
Park -- one of the last green spaces in Istanbul's center -- "which the
ecologists and architects of the city started to argue against
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