Building permit granted to the mosque in Taksim square

Mayor of Beyoğlu, centre of European İstanbul announces that building permit has been granted to the mosque to be built in Taksim square
Sunday, 12 February 2017 07:00

Ahmet Misbah Demircan, the Mayor of Beyoğlu district of İstanbul, went to the Taksim Masjid for the Friday prayer. After the prayer, Demircan informed the press about the mosque that is to be built in Taksim Square.

Demircan stated: “The project for a Taksim Mosque in the place of the Taksim Masjid has been on the agenda of the public for 50 years. The parking lot was registered as the area for the mosque in our construction plans for protected areas in 2010. In 2013, when the construction plans were cancelled, the areas lacked a plan. And in 2015, when the present plans were returned by the State Council, construction of a mosque was also allowed.”

Noting that the project was approved by the Council of Monuments, Demircan maintained: “There are businessmen who want to build the mosque. The building permit of the mosque has been granted, which will be built without wasting any public funding.”

Demircan also stated that the construction would take 1 or 2 years and that the process would be carried out in the supervision of the Council of Monuments.

However, this is not the first time the government has interfered with Taksim Square. It is still not –and probably will never be– forgotten how the people reacted when the government attempted to destroy Gezi Park in order to rebuild the “historical” artillery barracks in 2013.