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Taksim Monument and Square
In Taksim Square, Republic Monument, Atatürk Cultural Center and a heavy
human traffic welcome you. Taksim is the point of intersection for roads
flowing to Dolmabahçe, to Maçka, to Şişli, to Şişhane, to Tunel and
Cihangir. Or, in another words, Taksim distributes the way of life to
the rest of the city... (In Ottoman Turkish, taksim means to distribute,
to apportion. The reason for the district having this name is the water
used to apportion within İstanbul from here...)
The most important monument in the center of Taksim
Square is Taksim Cumhuriyet (Republic) Monument. Poet Sunay Akın, a
lover of Istanbul, tells the monument with this words:
“If you happen to ask the passers-by the name of
the statue, the answer is usually ‘Taksim Monument’ or ‘Atatürk Monument’.
However, its real name is Republic Monument. Presence of an Armenian
citizen of ours, Berç Keresteciyan in the board for the building of the
monument, a work of Italian sculptor Kanonika, makes the word “Republic”
even more meaningful. Of the monument having four sides, the side
overlooking Sıraselviler district symbolizes republic period while the
side overlooking Harbiye symbolizes National War of Independence. In the
other two sides, you see soldiers hanging flags. On the top of these
each soldier figure, the face of a woman does not fail to catch the eye.
On one side, her face is covered with a veil, which symbolizes the woman
living in slavery before the republic period. The woman face on the
other side does not have a veil on her face. This smiling woman face
symbolizes the modern woman after republic period”. |
FETHIYE
BODRUM
MARMARIS
ANTALYA