Taksim place

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Taksim Square
Taksim Meydanı
Place in Istanbul
Taksim place
The western part of Taksim Square with the "Monument of the Republic"
Basic data
place Istanbul
District Beyoğlu
Confluent streets İstiklal Caddesi
Tarlabaşı Bulvarı
Anıt Caddesi
Sıraselviler Caddesi
Buildings Ataturk Kültür Merkezi
Cumhuriyet Anıtı
use
User groups Foot traffic , car traffic
Taksim Square as seen from the corner of İstiklal Caddesi and Sıraselvilar Caddesi

The Taksim Square ( Turkish Taksim Meydanı ) is a central square and transportation hub in the European part of the Turkish metropolis of Istanbul , located in the district of Beyoğlu .

history

The name of the square a few meters below the highest point Beyoğlus derives from the Arabic تقسيم / taqsīm  / 'division, division'. A 23 km long long-distance water pipeline, built in 1731 from the north, ended here, at the end of which in 1732 a water distribution system ( taksim ) was built by order of Sultan Mahmud I. This gave the water to various water pipes, which carried it on to the districts of Kasımpaşa , Galata , Beyoğlu , Fındıklı and Beşiktaş . In the course of various expansion phases of the city, this long-distance water pipeline was expanded up to the beginning of the 19th century. Towards the end of the 19th century, only 80 of an estimated 10,000 houses in the Beyoğlu district were connected to this pipeline system; Like most of the water supply systems that were built before the 19th century, the Taksim Pipeline mainly supplied public wells, from which the great majority of the population took their water. The palaces near Taksim Square were an exception. For example, the Yıldız Palace , which around 1900 consumed around a third of the water in this pipe system, had a direct connection . After modern waterworks were built in the 1880s to supply the houses around Taksim Square and the Beyoğlu district, the water distributor on Taksim Square gradually lost its importance. Around 1950 the water distribution system on today's Taksim Square, including the pipeline system, was discontinued. The reservoirs in the Belgrade Forest that feed them, on the other hand, are still partly used to obtain water.

A water reservoir, recognizable as a flat, long building, on the western edge of the square, at the southern end of which is an octagonal building - the actual taksim - bears witness to the water distribution system .

traffic

Taksim Square is an important transportation hub in Istanbul. Several busy streets lead in all directions from here, including Tarlabaşı Avenue ( Tarlabaşı Bulvarı ) to Fatih , Republic Street ( Cumhuriyet Caddesi ) to the northern district of Şişli , İnönü Street ( İnönü Caddesi ) towards Beşiktaş and the street of independence ( İstiklal Caddesi ) down to Tünel Square. The last -mentioned street , formerly also known as Grande rue de Pera , has been a low-traffic pedestrian zone since the early 1990s.

The square is the starting or stopping point for various bus routes and until 2009 was the southern terminus of the Istanbul Metro , which leads to the Levent banking district in the north . In addition, the mountain station of the underground Kabataş-Taksim funicular has been located here since June 2006 , which provides a connection to the Bosporus ferries and the tram that runs along the banks of the Bosporus.

The historic tram ( Nostaljik Tramvay ), which runs along Independence Street and has a turning loop on Taksim Square, is more important for tourism .

Monuments, parks and structures

The Ataturk Cultural Center at the east end of the square
The Taksim Genocide Memorial, also known as Huşartsan

In the middle of the western half of the square is the " Monument of the Republic " ( Cumhuriyet Anıtı in Turkish ), which was built in 1928 and is intended to commemorate the founding of the Republic of Turkey in 1923.

In the north, the Gezi-Park connects to the square , a city park with trees that are around 70 years old. It is the last major square in the city center with trees.

On the grounds of the park and the adjacent area called Talimhane located either side of the Avenue of the Republic, formerly one was artillery - barracks of the Ottoman elite force of Janissaries . It was damaged in the course of the fighting during the capture of Istanbul by Macedonian troops under the command of Mahmud Şevket Pasha , the commander of the Young Turks , on April 24, 1909 and later sold. The Taksim Stadium ( Taksim Stadyumu ) was built on the site east of the Strait of the Republic, which was demolished in 1940 so that the current park could be established in the same place. Until 2002 there were controversial plans to build a mosque on the park area. After the Second World War, the Talimhanegelände were built on with commercial buildings and hotels.

From 1551 the Armenian Pangaltı cemetery was located here . After its demolition in 1930, the Divan , Hilton , Hyatt hotels and the TRT building were built. In 1919 the Taksim Genocide Memorial was erected on the 4th anniversary of the Armenian genocide , but it disappeared in 1922 under hitherto unexplained circumstances.

South of the square is the high-rise of the Marmara Hotel. The 26 storey and 96 meter high building was completed in 1969.

At the eastern end of Taksim Square is the Ataturk Cultural Center ( Ataturk Kültür Merkezi , AKM for short ). In the multi-purpose event center with several stages, opera and ballet performances , among other things, take place. The building replaces an older structure that burned down on November 27, 1970.

Meeting place

Parade ground

The monument of the republic is the central place for wreath-laying on national holidays. The square itself is the traditional, but for a long time, demonstration site for Turkish trade unions, left-wing parties and Istanbul's youth movements. Taksim Square was the stage for the student demonstrations against a visit by the US Sixth Fleet on February 16, 1969, which was remembered as Bloody Sunday . In Istanbul students, trade unions and other left opposition forces came together to demonstrate under the motto “Against imperialism and exploitation”. The rally ended at Taksim Square, where the demonstrators were attacked with knives, chains and clubs by up to 500 attackers who were given access to Taksim Square by the police. Two people were killed and more than a hundred injured in front of the police.

Probably the bloodiest event in the square's recent history came with the Taksim massacre in 1977, when participants in a trade union rally were shot at by strangers from the roofs of the Intercontinental Hotel (now Marmara Istanbul) and from the building of the water authority on May Day . Armored vehicles, noise bombs, and automatic weapon fire turned the area into a battlefield. At least 34 people died, hundreds were injured and 453 were arrested. The massacre of May 1, 1977 remains unsolved. After that, Taksim was closed to May Day rallies for three decades, and May 1st was not recognized as an official holiday. After the coup on September 12, 1980, May festivities were banned across Turkey for eight years.

The Gezi Park from Marmara Hotel seen from

On October 31, 2010, a suicide attack with at least 32 people injured occurred during a demonstration .

Protests 2013

Topçu barracks : built in 1806, converted into a stadium in 1921, demolished in 1940

At the end of 2012, Taksim Square was closed for construction work. In April 2013 there were massive protests against the demolition of the Emek cinema , which is classified as a world cultural heritage , and against a policy of urban renewal that seems to target the architectural monuments of Kemalism and Westernization . These events continued in the controversy surrounding Gezi Park, the trees of which the Istanbul city council is planning to cut down in order to build a shopping center there. It is said to have the modeled facade of the former Topçu barracks , which stood there until 1940.

On May 1, 2013, there were clashes between the demonstrators who tried to advance to Taksim Square and the police, with 16 injured.

On May 27, 2013, demonstrations against these plans and the felling of the trees began in Taksim Square. In the early morning of May 31, 2013 (Friday), Turkish police units cordoned off the square; and attacked them with tear gas and pepper spray after violent demonstrators had set cars and shops on fire.

The demonstrations spread to other cities; Many people express dissatisfaction with the policies of Prime Minister Recep Erdoğan , who has been in power for ten years and was also chairman of the ruling party Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi (AKP).

literature

  • Noyan Dinckal: Istanbul and the water. On the history of water supply and wastewater disposal from the middle of the 19th century to 1966. Oldenbourg, Munich 2004, ISBN 978-3-486-57565-1 (also dissertation at TU Berlin 2002).
  • Çelik Gülersoy: Taksim: the Story of a place , İstanbul Kitaplığı, Istanbul 1991, ISBN 975-7687-05-7 ( English ).
  • Mevlüt Çelebi: Taksim Cumhuriyet Anıtı . 1st edition. Ataturk Araştırma Merkezi, Ankara 2006, ISBN 975-16-1910-6 (Turkish, This book deals with the republic monument on Taksim Square.).

Web links

Commons : Taksim Square  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Noyan Dinckal: Istanbul and the water. Munich 2004, pp. 42-49, 64-71
  2. ^ EJ Zürcher: The Ides of April - A Fundamentalist Uprising in Istanbul in 1909? (PDF) ( Memento of August 18, 2007 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on February 17, 2007.
  3. ↑ Photos , accessed February 17, 2007.
  4. ^ [ Archived copy ( Memento of September 28, 2007 in the Internet Archive )], accessed on February 17, 2007.
  5. ↑ a b c Klaus Kreiser: Arrived in the 21st century - Istanbul has long been a European metropolis. [1] , accessed February 18, 2007.
  6. ↑ Monument to Armenian Genocide victims in Istanbul to be restored. LiveLeak , accessed June 26, 2013 .
  7. ↑ April 24: Can we start over again? Today's Zaman , archived from the original on April 28, 2011 ; Retrieved June 26, 2013 .
  8. ↑ [2] , accessed on February 18, 2007.
  9. ↑ [3] , accessed on February 18, 2007.
  10. ↑ a b c Kanlı Pazar: İktidar yönetiminde kanlı oyun ; Bloody game under the direction of the government; created on February 1, 2011; Accessed April 22, 2011
  11. ↑ Ayhan Bilgin: The 1968 movement in Turkey (PDF; 141 kB); published in UTOPIE Kreativ, H. 213/214 (July / August 2008), pp. 628-645; Accessed April 22, 2011
  12. ↑ 40. yılında tüm ayrıntıları ile 12 Mart muhtırası (1) , series on the 40th anniversary of the memorandum, published on March 10, 2011; Accessed April 19, 2011
  13. ↑ 68'liler Kanlı Pazarı unutmadı ( Memento from August 1, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ), daily newspaper Evrensel from February 17, 2008; Accessed April 19, 2001
  14. ↑ Sinan İkinci: Turkey: Massacre of May 1, 1977 still unsolved , World Socialist Web Site, May 1, 2003, [4] , accessed May 2, 2007
  15. ↑ Suicide bomber injures 32 people in Istanbul ( Memento from November 8, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
  16. ↑ see Frankfurter Rundschau April 8, 2013, see also Arte film document ( Memento of the original from December 3, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / istanbul.arte.tv
  17. ^ A b zeit.de: An inkling of Tahrir in Istanbul. - Prime Minister Erdoğan has protests against tree felling suppressed. He acts more and more like a despot, the Turks revolt.
  18. ^ Street battles at the May rally in Istanbul. Focus Online, May 1, 2013, accessed June 2, 2013 .
  19. ↑ Police use irritant gas against demonstrators. Die Welt, May 1, 2013, accessed June 2, 2013 .
  20. ^ The Guardian June 1, 2013: Turkey protests rage for second day
  21. ↑ Johannes Korge: Turkey charges 36 demonstrators with terrorism. In: Spiegel Online. January 3, 2014, accessed February 20, 2019 .
  22. ↑ The Guardian : Istanbul park protests sow the seeds of a Turkish spring (for example: "sow the seeds of a Turkish spring")
  23. ↑ spiegel.de: Police violence in Istanbul: With clubs against the angry citizens of Gezi Park
  24. ^ The New York Times : Peaceful Protest Over Istanbul Park Turns Violent as Police Crack Down

Coordinates: 41 ° 2 ′ 13 ″  N , 28 ° 59 ′ 9 ″  E