generalspeaking

Monday, April 01, 2019

Returning Ottoman Islam to Turkey

"It is completely changing the topography and design of the square [Taksim Square, Istanbul]."
"It is highly symbolic of Erdogan's reign taking over Turkey's republic."
Soner Cagaptay, head, Turkish Research Program, Institute for Near East Policy, Washington

"Taksim is a symbol of progress, labour and modernism."
"They [Recep Tayyip Erdogan's Justice and Development party] want to privatize that square."
Mucella Yapici, secretary, Taksim Solidarity

"If democracy is to come to this country one day, it will draw power from Gezi's egalitarian, libertarian and peaceful togetherness."
"You may put millions of people on trial, but you will never destroy the truth."
Taksim Solidarity statement

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan greets his supporters after his speech during a pre-election rally at Bayrampasa district in Istanbul, on March 30, 2019. (Photo by Ozan KOSE / AFP)

Ahval Recep Tayyip Erdogan celebrates 'victory' for his Justice and Development Party after Sunday's elections

Taksim Square historically sat on the edge of Istanbul, since grown around the square. The districts surrounding the square were home to non-Muslim communities of Greeks, Armenians and Jews. Turkey under Ottoman rule persecuted its Armenians and Greeks, no less its Jewish population. And currently under a regenerated Islamist government, Turkey's president has uttered veiled threats against Jews Turkish citizens, linking them to his hatred of Israel.

The most popular part of Taksim Square is its symbolism as a secular meeting place for Turks. It is where a monumental statue of the Turkish Republic's founder, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk stands. And there is where the Justice and Development Party is erecting a gigantic mosque. Recep Tayyip Erdogan is fond of large mosques, and Turkey has funded many of them built in Europe, particularly in Germany where many Turks live, brought there originally as temporary workers.

What Ataturk founded, Erdogan is busy eroding and replacing. Erdogan dreams of a renewed Empire based on the long-gone Ottoman rule, envisaging himself as a latter-day caliph to whom all other Muslim countries in the region must pay obeisance. Arab countries think otherwise, preferring to rule themselves, recalling Ottoman rule with little fondness.

When Erdogan was mayor of Istanbul he planned to have a huge mosque dominate Taksim Square. Now that he is the undisputed ruler of Turkey by imperial fiat and no little amount of skulduggery, he plans to carry through with the building of the mosque and in its erection, transforming the square entirely to become a symbol of his rule, reversing its symbolism of a modern republic reflecting a century of history.

Taksim mosque nears completion, set to open in 2018

The construction of a giant mosque in the heart of Istanbul, in the historic Taksim square, is close to completion, as 85 percent of the structure has already been finished. Dogan News Agency

Protests against Erdogan took place at Taksim Square in 2013 with activists staging sit-ins, motivated by Erdogan's plans to change Gezi Park from a public facility to a privately invested shopping mall reminiscent in design of the Ottoman-era barracks that once stood there, before the raised gardens became a popular recreational site for the city's residents. The protesters faced riot police and dozens were arrested. A prelude to the tens of thousands of arrests in the wake of the aborted coup in 2016.

Residents of the area have no love of the gentrification that has overtaken the square and its environs along with the commercialization that has replaced local artisans. "There was a tram and electric buses and booths selling food. The old version was more beautiful", said Guizade Yorgun, a seller of flowers for the past 43 years on the square.

When Erdogan ordered that the Ataturk Cultural Center be razed -- used by generations of Turks to attend concerts, operas and theater productions -- the public despaired that a symbol of the republic's acceptance of Western values was to disappear. The trade unionists, artists and activists known to have taken part in the protests of six years earlier have seen some among them charged, facing life sentences, if convicted.

Turkish citizens had the opportunity to demonstrate at the polls during municipal elections just how they feel about Erdogan's version of democracy and his enraptured bias toward the Ottoman Empire, basing his ideas on transforming Turkey to once again dominate Muslim nations by the power of his eloquence and the threats to those challenging his authority. The outcome of those elections may yet result in the beginning of yet another mass movement to protest his plans to return Turkey to medievalism.