Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Monday launched a controversial project to build a new building instead of Atatürk Cultural Center (AKM), a symbol of Rebuplic, saying the building would be a symbol for İstanbul.
"Work [referring to the demolition of the AKM] that should have been done 15 years ago is starting today. The AKM should have already been demolished by today, and we should have already put a new one into the service of our people…The force trying to prevent the new airport and other large-scale projects we have been carrying out in İstanbul is the same as the force that has tried to sabotage our operations in Syria and Iraq," Erdoğan said on Monday.
Erdoğan compared opposers of his project to demolish and replace the AKM to "those who are trying to prevent Turkey’s fight against terror organizations," claiming they are "the same."
Turkish AKP government's new project will remove a symbol of the modern Republic of Turkey founded after the break up of the Ottoman Empire by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, from whom the building takes its name.
Erdoğan said the cutting-edge building would give new life to Taksim Square in central İstanbul, which was the hub for mass protests against AKP rule in 2013 sparked by an urban development project in the nearby Gezi Park.
"We know very well that resistance to the rebuilding of this structure stems from ideological obsessions, not cultural or artistic sensitivity," Erdoğan said.
Saying that they have shown patience on the reconstruction of the AKM, Erdoğan said: "I also know that those who have tried to sabotage our new project, that will be built to be more functional than the AKM, will most benefit from it."
It, continuously attacked by the AKP since the day the party came to power in Turkey, has never fallen off of their agenda once in the last 15 years. The AKM was shut down by the Turkish government on the pretext of 'restoration' in 2008 and has remained unused for the last 9 years.
The Atatürk Cultural Center, which was first designed as a theatre building by French architect Auguste Perret, was built in 1946. The building was destroyed when a fire broke out during a play in 1970. It was reopened in 1977. Turkey registered the centre as an urban protected area in 1993 and it was declared a protected cultural landmark in 1999.
AKM has since its establishment hosted social-art events and social development programs, and has led the public masses to participate in debates for a long time, as a rare example in the world. It has been at the centre of 'demolition' debates since 2003 due to the hostile attitude towards the Republic's cultural heritage and cultural and artistic venues displayed by the AKP government.
