New images of Istanbul’s Taksim project released

ISTANBUL

AA Photo

The Istanbul Municipality has released new images of Taksim’s controversial pedestrianization project, showing how the square will look when completed.

Istanbul Mayor Kadir Topbaş shared the images during an opening ceremony in Istanbul, saying work for the landscape project of Taksim would began in March after tenders are made.

According to the images, additional trees and another small park will be planted in pedestrianized zones, alongside the current green spaces of Gezi Park and the monument area.

“We will reveal a Taksim with a green pattern full of trees and ornamented with flowers,” Topbaş said.
As part of the project, a new underpass tunnel will be built on the other side of Gezi Park, Topbaş added.

When the images were released, careful eyes noticed that the Atatürk sculpture in the Republic Monument in Taksim Square had been forgotten. After the reactions, the municipality released new images in which the sculpture was added.

The pedestrianization project began in November 2012, and a tunnel that took the traffic underground was opened on Sept. 12, 2013.

During the summer of 2013, the Gezi protest shook the country, after initially being sparked at the end of May against a government redevelopment plan to raze Gezi Park and rebuild historic Artillery Barracks that would have included a mall and residential area. The attempt to save the last green area in Istanbul’s central Taksim Square evolved into the country’s largest turmoil in recent history, with prolonged protests across the country, resulting in the deaths of five protesters and one police officer, and leaving thousands injured.