The construction of a mosque that is set to be built in Istanbul’s Taksim Square began on February 17 with an official ceremony attended by the city’s mayor, Kadir Topbaş.
Speaking at the event for the project, which has been the subject to controversy and saw lengthy legal processes, Topbaş, a member of the ruling party AKP, said there has always been a need for a mosque in the city’s major tourist and culture hub.
“The fact that the mosque is near the Santa Maria Church and two sanctuaries facing Taksim shows how tolerant this city is,” he said.
The project was recently approved by the Board of Preservation of Cultural Monuments and has been championed by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan since he was mayor of İstanbul. It was previously rejected on the grounds that it was against public benefit. The construction comes two months ahead of the Constitutional Amendment Referendum which, if successful, will introduce an executive presidential system handing more power to Erdoğan.
Taksim Square and Gezi Park have long been contested sites and were the epicentre of mass anti-government protests in 2013 when officials tried to cut down trees for the construction of a military barracks and a mosque.
Erdoğan had vowed on July 19, after a failed coup attempt, to revive plans for an İstanbul park that sparked anti-government protests in 2013, saying the failed coup bid would not stop a series of building projects, risking further polarisation in the country. He said the barracks would serve as a city museum. Erdoğan also said he would knock down the historic Atatürk Cultural Centre to build Turkey's first opera house at Taksim Square, as well as open a mosque.
Erdoğan had floated a new plans to build a replica of the barracks, site of a failed Islamist uprising in the early 20th century. Reiterating his intent so soon after the coup attempt underscores his commitment to the project.
Taksim and Gezi, one of the city's few green spots, have long symbolised the secular Republic of Turkey, developed in the years after the collapse of the Ottoman caliphate.
