Gezi Park
The Gezi Park ( Gezi means something like "walk") is an approximately 3.8 hectare urban park in the Beyoğlu commune in Istanbul next to the central Taksim Square . The northern part includes the so-called historical park "Taksim Bahçesi", which, when completed in 1869, was the first public park in what was then the Ottoman capital of Istanbul. The redesign and expansion of the current green area is based on a design by the architect Henri Prost .
The park is one of the few inner-city green spaces in Istanbul. The prevention of its development became the starting point of a nationwide protest movement in the summer of 2013 .
history
Until the 1930s, the area was an area on the northeastern edge of the former old town of Constantinople in what was then the Pangaltı district . In the northern area of today's park area there was originally a tree-lined garden ( labeled Taxim Baghtghessi on the map ), to the east there was a Muslim cemetery that had not been used since the end of the 19th century (Plan genéral 1922, fields F – G / 11–12) , called Ayaspaşa Mezarlığı . The Armenian cemetery in the Pangaltı district, which is also no longer in use , called (Ermeni) Mezarlighi on the adjacent map , was not in the area of the green spaces planned by Prost, but buildings were to be built at this point (Prost Parc 2). A new cemetery for the Armenian community existed in the Şişli district .
In 1936 the Turkish President, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk , invited the French architect and urban planner Henri Prost to Turkey and commissioned him with the general plan for Istanbul. As part of Prost's planning, a design for a larger green area was also created, which included the area of today's park. With the creation of Taksim Square and the adjoining İnönü Esplanade , an outstanding place in terms of urban planning was to emerge. The Governor and Mayor Lütfi Kırdar arranged in accordance with Prost designs the demolition of the 1,806 built and since 1921 as Taksim Stadium used Taksim Military Barracks (Halil Paşa Topçu Kışlası) to, on the adjacent historic map Taxim Kichlassi called. The barracks was a rectangular, four-winged building with bastion-like corner buildings; the complex enclosed a plaza-like inner courtyard and covered an area of almost three hectares .
After these structures were removed, a flat open space was created that was suitable for a formal garden (in the French style). Rows of trees were planted, beds laid out and benches set up. In complementary contrast, Prost left the area of Taksim Bahçesi ("Taksim Garden"), called Taxim Baghtghessi on the adjacent historical map , in a landscape style with trees and bushes.
The esplanade was opened in 1942, the park was completed by 1947 and opened to the public under the name İnönü Park (in honor of the second president İsmet İnönü ). Prost's original plan (Prost Parc 2) had provided for a more extensive park area, which should extend in a north-easterly direction. However, it was not realized, rather numerous buildings were gradually built in the following years. In the end, the area known today as Gezi Park remained . The green area, which was redesigned several times, remained an important, albeit small, recreational area.
Shape and components
The originally symmetrically structured park today consists of the larger part, called Taksim Gezi Park , with a rectangular floor plan and a smaller area in the northwest, successor to Taksim Bahçesi . The southwestern area is built over, as is the northeastern part, on which a casino (Taksim Belediye Gazinosu) designed by Rüknettin Güney stood in the 1940s , which later had to give way to the high-rise building of the Ceylan Intercontinental Hotel . The narrow south edge borders Taksim Square.
The middle area of the remaining main part of the park is characterized by a garden parterre , to which a square plaza adjoins to the north, in the middle of which there is a roundabout with the round water basin of the fountain . Another fountain is the smaller dolphin fountain with a square water basin. The side areas of the park have a dense population of trees, including some trees from the time the garden was founded (age around 70 years).
Protests against overbuilding in 2013
In May 2013, Gezi Park became the starting point for nationwide protests, which expressed general dissatisfaction with the Turkish government. The reason for this was the plans to develop the park, which was seen as part of ongoing environmental degradation (in particular clearing in the greater Istanbul area) in favor of economic development (Sammann DLF September 25).
On September 16, 2011, the Beyoğlu commune had already decided to further develop the garden. In May 2013 the Turkish government decided to use the park area to build a shopping center. The planned building was to be given a historic, Ottoman look by replicating part of the facade of the Topçu barracks . On May 27, 2013, a man opposed an excavator, and one day later protests began against the announced construction project, which would have meant the final destruction of the park.
The demonstrations by the park guards were very popular and, after the police tried to crack them down at the end of May 2013, turned into a nationwide wave of protests against the policies of the Turkish government. The green area was evacuated by the police on June 15-16, 2013 using force.
At the beginning of July 2013 it became known that the Istanbul Administrative Court had already refused the development plan for the park in June. The court followed an application from the Istanbul Chamber of Architects. Another reason was that the residents were not sufficiently informed about the project. An inspection of the park, which had been cordoned off since June 15, on July 6, 2013, was violently prevented by security forces (NZZ 155).
On July 20, there were again clashes between demonstrators and the police. This time the occasion was the call for a wedding of a couple who had met during the protests. Due to official intimidation, the number of demonstrators appeared to have decreased in late July. The park was subsequently closed repeatedly when there were signs of protests critical of the government.
Construction announcement June 2016
On June 18, 2016, President Erdoğan announced that he would now realize the construction project, which was so controversial in 2013. In July 2015, the Turkish Administrative Court overturned all previous court rulings that halted the construction project.
Web links
swell
- Plan général de la ville de Constantinople, sheet 3. Ed. By the Société anonyme Ottomane d'études et d'entreprises urbaines. Stamboul 1922.
- Henri Prost: Parc No. 2 , plan on a scale of 1: 2000, around 1940.
- Birge Yıldırım: Transformations of public squares of Istanbul between 1938–1949. 15th International Planning History Society conference.
- Istanbul does not come to rest. In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung , International Edition, Volume 234, No. 155 of July 8, 2013, p. 1.
- Özlem Gezer, Maximilian Popp: The big cleaning up. In: Der Spiegel, No. 30 of July 22, 2013, pp. 74–75.
- Louise Sammann: Cost what it may. Broadcast in the series "Background" of the DLF on Sept. 25, 2013.
Individual evidence
- ^ Zeynep Çelik: The Remaking of Istanbul: Portrait of an Ottoman City in the Nineteenth Century . University of California Press, 1986, ISBN 978-0-520-08239-7 ( google.de [accessed April 21, 2017]).
- ↑ Özlem Gezer, Maximilian Popp: The great cleaning up . In: Der Spiegel 30/2013, July 22, 2013. Retrieved June 19, 2016.
- ↑ FAZ.net June 19, 2016: Riots after Ramadan attack on record store . Retrieved June 19, 2016.
Coordinates: 41 ° 2 ′ 18 ″ N , 28 ° 59 ′ 13 ″ E