Erdogan opens landmark mosque in Istanbul’s Taksim Square
Istanbul, Turkey – Thousands of worshippers turned out in Istanbul’s central Taksim Square on Friday to mark the inauguration by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of an imposing, and controversial, new mosque.
The opening fulfilled a long-held ambition by numerous governments because the Fifties to construct a Muslim place of worship within the sq., typically regarded as a logo of Turkey’s founding father Mustafa Kemal Ataturk’s secularism.
The inauguration additionally coincided with the anniversary of huge anti-government protests, which started within the close by Gezi Park on May 28, 2013, as a consequence of authorities development plans.
Screens within the sq. confirmed the primary prayers on the mosque, which looms over a bronze and marble statue depicting Ataturk, whereas worshippers sat on disposable paper prayer mats.
While municipality staff handed out masks and sanitiser, the was little social distancing among the many thronging crowds – despite the fact that Turkey has not too long ago come out of its strictest COVID-19 lockdown but.
Erdogan’s arrival was met with applause as he waved to the gang earlier than heading inside.
“We have been ready a protracted, very long time for this mosque,” Mehmet Ali Karahacioglu, 68, advised Al Jazeera.
“No one was capable of do it – solely Erdogan. He’s a particular man for me. Taksim Square has a really lovely view proper now – I want they may have constructed this mosque 50 years in the past,” he mentioned.
In a speech, Erdogan mentioned he hoped it could “illuminate our metropolis like an oil lamp for hundreds of years to return”.
Thousands of individuals attended the opening [Emre Caylak/Al Jazeera]
Taksim is the focus of life on the European facet of Istanbul – it connects with the principle procuring road, Istiklal, and usually buzzes with consumers, vacationers, staff and partygoers.
The space was house to Istanbul’s spiritual and ethnic minorities throughout the Ottoman period and there are a number of church buildings within the neighborhood, together with the town’s largest Greek Orthodox church, however few giant mosques.
“We didn’t have sufficient mosques round right here, so that is good,” mentioned Canan Kurtoglu, 53, who attended the prayers and works for the subcontractor who constructed the mosque’s doorways.
For critics, nonetheless, the brand new landmark’s 28-metre-wide dome and two towering minarets loom over the sq. as an effort by Erdogan, whose ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party has been in energy since 2002, to impose a non secular and conservative dominance over the realm.
Soner Cagaptay, director of the Turkish analysis programme on the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, mentioned on Twitter that by “patronizing giant, symbolic mosques within the metropolis of his delivery … Erdogan seems decided to go away his indelible mark on Turkey”.
By patronizing giant, symbolic mosques within the metropolis of his delivery —which already has 3 “Erdogan” mosques, together with the brand new Taksim Mosque overlooking and re-shaping Istanbul’s central Taksim Square— Erdogan seems decided to go away his indelible mark on Turkey #SultaninAutumn https://t.co/ThppVh9yH7
— Soner Cagaptay (@SonerCagaptay) May 28, 2021
Gezi Park protests
Erdogan pushed for the institution of a mosque within the space since he was Istanbul mayor within the Nineteen Nineties, nonetheless, the plans have been pissed off by a army intervention in 1997 that deposed the nation’s Islamist authorities, and by a collection of authorized and public battles.
During a speech that adopted the inaugural prayers, Erdogan blamed the Gezi protests for the mosque undertaking not having come to fruition earlier, referring to it as a “second when these terrorists stood towards us”.
The Gezi protests have been sparked by Erdogan’s plan to construct a shopping center designed just like the Ottoman-era barracks on a uncommon inexperienced house within the space, however a heavy-handed police response noticed it unfold across the nation in unrest that continued for months.
Construction on the mosque finally started in 2017. The new 2,250-capacity mosque reportedly additionally comprises an exhibition corridor, library, soup kitchen and automotive park.
It is the third main spiritual landmark to be established within the metropolis not too long ago by Erdogan.
The monumental Camlica mosque overlooking the Asian facet of the town was opened in March 2019.
The 1,400-year-old Hagia Sophia, which was initially a church earlier than changing into a mosque beneath the Ottomans after which a museum beneath Ataturk, was reconverted right into a mosque final yr.
Canan Kurtoglu poses for an image in Taksim Square [Emre Caylak/Al Jazeera]
Across the opposite facet of the sq. from the mosque was the Ataturk Cultural Centre, a Nineteen Sixties constructing that Gezi protesters hung with banners in 2013 however was demolished in 2019.
The constructing is now being changed by a brand new Ataturk Cultural Centre that may maintain an opera home, in addition to exhibition halls, cafes and eating places.
“Erdogan has simply made this mosque for political causes,” mentioned Can Aksoy, 40, an actor who grew up and lives within the space.
“He constructed it proper in entrance of the cultural centre, simply to point out his energy as a result of he can.”
Women attend opening of the Taksim mosque [Emre Caylak/Al Jazeera]
