JOURNAL OF ARCHITECTURE AND URBANISM ISSN 2029-7955 print / ISSN 2029-7947 online 2014 Volume 38(1): 63–72 doi:10.3846/20297955.2014.902185 Theme of the issue “City as political space” Žurnalo numerio tema „Miestas kaip politinė erdvė“ ISTANBUL’S TAKSIM SQUARE AND GEZI PARK: THE PLACE OF PROTEST AND THE IDEOLOGY OF PLACE Murat Güla, John Deeb, Cahide Nur Cünükc aDepartment of Architecture, TOBB University of Economics and Technology, Söğütözü Caddesi No. 43, Ankara, Turkey bArchitecture Program, International University of Sarajevo, Hrasnička cesta 15, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina cDepartment of Architecture, Fatih Sultan Mehmet Vakıf University, Merkez Efendi Mah. Mevlevihane Cad., Yenikapı Mevlevihanesi No: 25, Zeytinburnu, Istanbul, Turkey E-mails: [email protected] (corresponding author); [email protected]; [email protected] Received 17 December 2013; accepted 05 March 2014 Abstract. May 2013 saw Istanbul witness a massive public demonstration. The incident began on 28 May when a small group of environmental activists tried to save Gezi Park, one of the most iconic green spaces in the Taksim district of central Istanbul. The park dates back to the 1940s and is well-known as public promenade. The modest demonstration was triggered by a government decision to reconstruct a former Ottoman Artillery Barracks. Within a few days, it developed into a violent uprising on an unpre- cedented scale lasting almost an entire month. Crowds not only gathered in Istanbul but also in many other Turkish cities such as the capital, Ankara. International media broadcast the protests live from Taksim Square turning the Gezi Park protest into an international phenomenon. Today the Park has become a reference point in Turkish politics where almost every issue is linked to the ‘spirit of Gezi’. It made a modest protest over an inner city promenade into a vivid symbol of political opposition. This paper will analyse historically the Taksim Square project and the ideological conflicts it evoked in Turkish society. Keywords: modernism, ideology, protest movement, public space, urban landscape. Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Gül, M.; Dee, J.; Cünük, C. N. 2014. Istanbul’s Taksim Square and Gezi Park: the place of protest and the ideology of place, Journal of Architecture and Urbanism 38(1): 63–72. Introduction Cities throughout history have functioned as vivid cities have been used as platforms for state rituals, fest- symbols of the civilisations to which they belong. Such ivals, celebrations and other public events where space cities embody strong symbolic meaning with respect and building alike can embody symbolic meaning with to urban space as exemplified in the grand Baroque reference to political power, the nobility and the wider designs of 17th and 18th Century Italy and France. Wim public. Many spaces have forged unique meanings and Blockmans describes cities as ‘theatres’ where polit- destinies through landmark events such the execution ical regimes show their ideology and social practices of Louis XVI at the Place de la Concorde, Paris 1793, (Blockmans 2003). Likewise Spiro Kostof argues that the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 in Beijing and ‘In every age urban spaces – streets and squares – have the civil rights speeches by Martin Luther King and served to stage spectacles in which the citizenry parti- others in Washington DC, 1963. Hence people em- cipated as players and audience’ and that ‘the dramat- brace and attach symbolic importance and meaning ization of urban form was a function of autocracy’ to places because of their associations with specific from the political point of view (Kostof 1999). Capital events in human history. Other well-known historical Copyright © 2014 Vilnius Gediminas Technical University (VGTU) Press Technika 63 http://www.tandfonline.com/ttpa 64 M. Gül et al. Istanbul’s Taksim Square and Gezi Park: the place of protest and the ideology of place places where people gather for celebration and protest above Galata was named Pera by the Greeks, meaning are Alexanderplatz in Berlin, Times Square, New York ‘across the Golden Horn’, and Beyoğlu by the Turks. and Tahrir Square, Cairo. Istanbul’s Taksim Square is Beyoğlu gradually became a centre for Westerners who such a place with a powerful historic association and resided in Ottoman Istanbul. It housed diplomatic en- meaning in respect of political power, celebration and voys and missions and displayed western style cafes, public demonstration. hotels restaurants and entertainment venues – all The Taksim district lies on the European side of the of which enriched the district over time making it Istanbul metropolis. Designed in the 1940s, Taksim the most Europeanised part of Istanbul in the 19th Square and Gezi Park were to become the most import- Century (Gül 2012). ant public spaces in contemporary Istanbul. The early Water was supplied to Pera by canals constructed in decades of the Turkish Republic brought Taksim to the 18th Century, and Taksim, being the most prominent prominence as the republican ideological showcase of point of Beyoğlu, became a water distribution centre for modernisation. Hence its modern recreational facilities the three major dams that supplied the city. The dams and modernist buildings were critical in the history of were constructed in the reign of Mahmud I to supply this process. The Square became associated with many Galata and the northern shores of the Bosporus (Kuban public events such as political rallies, labour demonstra- 2000; Cezar 2002). A building constructed in 1732 ‘mak- tions, New Year jamborees and national football celebra- sem’ (meaning ‘place of distribution’) is the origin of the tions. Today it is a powerful symbol for many social and name of the Taksim district. In the late 18th century ideologically based causes: a place where protest groups Beyoğlu expanded as far as the maksem with the bound- traditionally air their grievances. It has inscribed an in- ary marked by the road connecting Pera to Taksim – the delible imprint on city’s morphology as a place used by Grande Rue de Pera or today’s İstiklal Street. governments to deliver their ideologies and policies to The modernisation policies of the Ottoman Empire the people. It is also a place where politicians have ac- made Taksim one of the most sought after destinations ted as pseudo urban designers to the extent that today in Istanbul. The Artillery Barracks, constructed in its design quality is little more than a lifeless void. But 1806 and renovated in the mid-19th Century during as recent events have shown, the Square still retains a the reign of Abdülmecid, marked Taksim’s import- powerful symbolic status as arguable the most important ance in the urban morphology of Istanbul. Mecidiye public gathering place in Istanbul. and Gümüşsuyu Barracks and Gümüşsuyu Military The paper will first appraise the historical develop- Hospital were the other large-scale buildings construc- ment of Taksim Square and its role in Turkish politics ted in the Taksim district during the late Ottoman from the Late Ottoman period when Taksim played period. Many other noteworthy buildings were con- a pivotal role in attempts to resuscitate an aged em- structed in Taksim during the first two decades of the pire. Next it will analyse the contemporary events and 20th Century to take advantage of the transport con- battles waged over fundamental ideological value sets nections made possible by the electric tram network that catapulted Taksim to national and international completed in 1914. prominence. Of particular interest here is the way a modest protest over a pedestrianisation proposal de- Taksim Square and the Kemalist ideology veloped into a major national political crisis. Finally The end of the First World War saw the Ottoman insights will be offered on the historic significance and Empire collapse and the birth of a new secular Turkish symbolism of Taksim Square and Gezi Park. Republic in 1923. Under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the new Turkish Republic represented Taksim in late Ottoman times a significant turning point in Turkish history. It marked Taksim’s urban history began in 1732 under the reign the beginning of an intense modernisation process that of Sultan Mahmud I with the construction of a wa- brought with it fundamental institutional change to the ter distribution building. Located on the northern country’s political and social structure. Although the slopes of the Golden Horn, Taksim district lies across roots of Turkish modernisation can be traced back to the water from the ancient walled city of Istanbul. early 18th Century Ottoman administrations, the new Ottoman Istanbul had four principal districts: The Republican reform programme was radically different. old City of Istanbul (Istanbul proper), Galata across One of its principal aims was a wide-ranging transform- the Golden Horn, Eyüp on the northern shores of the ation based on Western secular values of traditional Golden Horn and Üsküdar on the Asiatic shores of the Ottoman society. The reforms included the removal Bosphorus. Galata had been home to Genoese mer- of political figures, the dismantling of institutions and chants since Byzantine times. The district on the hill symbols of the Ottoman Empire and their replacement Journal of Architecture and Urbanism, 2014, 38(1): 63–72 65 with a set of secular principles for the foundation of a The first major project in Taksim by Prost was the new nation state. Therefore all recognisable symbols of demolition of the Artillery Barracks to create a public the ancient régime, ranging from dress codes to the al- promenade (Fig. 2). In the 1930s the derelict Barracks phabet were outlawed, removed or changed to conform and its huge courtyard were used as a football field, to the perceived western standards of the time. which eventually made way for the construction of a The Kemalist elites, as with many other revolution- modern park and promenade named after İsmet İnönü ary regimes, saw architecture and urban planning and who became the president of Turkey on Atatürk’s death design as the key visual indicators of cultural modern- in 1938 (Figs 3, 4).