It turned out that an explosive mosque project in Taksim was approved by the conservation council on January 19. Stopped by conservation boards and court judgements many times since the 1970s, the Taksim Square Mosque project reached the final stage of decision.
The Cultural Heritage Conservation Board in Istanbul approved the project that proposes a mosque to be constructed on the area next to the historical Taksim Water Chambers, near the notable Taksim Republic Monument. The demolition area includes a masjid, a car park, and some flower stores.
Upon the decision of the Board, the mosque will take a space of 900 square metres in a total site of 1,482 square metres. The height of the mosque will be 30.3 meters including the dome and the minarets. A car park with a capacity of 180 cars and a conference room are planned to be built underneath the mosque.
ARCHITECTS AGAINST PROJECT
The Chamber of Architects, who accomplished to cancel the previous zoning plans for the mosque project by filing several lawsuits in the past, reacted to the decision. “The decision of the Board is trampling on the law,” said Sami Yılmaztürk, Chairman of the Istanbul Metropolitan Branch for the Chamber of Architects.
Underlining that they won all the previous lawsuits they filed, Yılmaztürk added: “This decision is a part of revenging on the values of the republican regime. Taksim Square is a whole and it should be conserved as a whole.”
The most recent lawsuit against the construction of the mosque was won in 2011. Many constructions planned for Taksim including the mosque project were stopped upon the court judgement. The Council of State, however, reversed the court decision that cancelled the Taksim Square redevelopment plan in 2015 and paved the way for the projects.
RECALLING 2013 GEZİ PROTESTS
Considered the heart of modern Istanbul, the Taksim Square has been of significant political importance during much of its existence and witnessed many important moments of the history of the Republic.
Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) has been longing for a construction plan to reshape the nature of the surroundings including the pedestrianisation of the square and the demolition of Atatürk Cultural Centre and Gezi Park, as well as the construction of a mosque and a shopping mall.
One of the last green spaces in central Istanbul, the Gezi Park, located near the Taksim Square, was the home to the anti-AKP, progressive demonstrations started in June 2013 that spread throughout the country to form a wave of mass protests, later to be known as the June Resistance.
ERDOĞAN INSISTS ON MOSQUE
Whether to build a mosque in Taksim, or not, has been a long-time discussion in Turkey. The current President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has run a campaign for the construction since he became the Mayor of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality.
As the Gezi Protests continued in June 2013, he made statements on the fate of the square. Accusing the protesters of being “looters”, he declared that he wasn’t “a dictator to the people, but a servant to them”.
“Atatürk Cultural Centre will be demolished, God willing. [...] And yes, we will also build a mosque. I am not going to try to get permission for this from the CHP [main opposition party] leader or a couple of looters. The people who voted for us have already given the authority for this to us,” said Erdoğan.
