Taksim Mosque; A Prominent Model for the Struggle of Islamists and Secularists in Turkey

With the opening of the Taksim Mosque on May 28, 2021, Turkey is folding a period of symbolic conflict that lasted more than 7 decades, for which a prime minister was executed and turned against two of his successors, while President Recep Tayyip Erdogan succeeded in ending the secularist complex.

Although building mosques in Turkey is normal and familiar, the mosque built in Taksim Square in central Istanbul was an exception, and its opening represented, according to many, a victory for Islamists and conservatives at the expense of liberals and secularists, and also “a victory for Turkish identity over imported identity.”

The mosque gains its importance from the symbolism of the place in which it is placed, as Taksim Square in the heart of Istanbul is a symbol of the secular Republic of Turkey, which was founded by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk in 1923.

The famous square hosts a memorial to Ataturk and his fellow founding officers, and a cultural center in the name of Ataturk, so the secular parties have considered building a mosque in this square a “challenge to them and their Westernization project.”

A History of Conflict

Despite the start of construction of the mosque in 2017, and its opening on May 28, 2021, the dispute over its construction goes back more than 7 decades, as the project was proposed in the fifties of the last century, but it faced objections and was rejected several times by the secular parties in Turkey.

The first attempt to build the mosque was in 1953, when civil associations demanded the former Prime Minister Adnan Menderes to build the mosque, and he responded to their demand, but the project to build it stopped after the overthrow of Menderes’ rule and later his execution on September 17, 1961.

In the mid-sixties, the issue of building the mosque was raised again by Turkish merchants and businessmen, during the era of former Prime Minister Suleyman Demirel, and after about 15 years, the Council of Ministers approved the construction of the mosque in 1979, however, only one year passed after which the military coup against Demiral took place in 1980, and the military tightened their grip on power.

The military represented the secular wing of the state, and they were the traditional enemy of the Islamists. Therefore, the Council of State, which is the highest administrative and judicial authority in Turkey, issued a decision in 1983 to consider the land of the mosque as a “protected site,” ending any intentions to establish it.

Assuredly, the attempts by the then Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan and his student (currently President of the Republic) Erdogan to build the mosque in the 1990s were cut off.

In 1994, about 27 years ago, a video clip of Erdogan, while taking over as mayor of Istanbul, showed him pointing from one of the rooftops in the Taksim area to the site of the mosque, and saying: “Here we will build a mosque, and I ask God that laying the foundation stone will be by my hands.”

At that time, the decision to consider the mosque’s land “protected” was still in effect, but Erdogan reopened the file after assuming the position of mayor of Istanbul, but the 1997 coup caused the file to be closed again.

 

Both Parties’ Arguments

The decision to consider the mosque’s land as “protected land” remained in effect during that period with the bureaucracy that Erdogan could not penetrate, due to its tight grip on the joints of the state, despite being the highest political authority in the country.

In 2013, the municipality prepared a plan to renovate Taksim Square. Among the plans was the construction of the disputed mosque. The opposition and secular political parties rose up and rejected the plan, citing several arguments, including that “Erdogan wants to Islamize the state and to overthrow the secular Ataturk Republic.”

The protesters said that the mosque “is an indication of Erdogan’s coup intentions against Ataturk’s secularism, and that he intends to change the characteristics of the square, give the square a religious character, cancel Ataturk’s legacy and erase its symbolism from the Turkish mindset.”

The protesters denounced that the dome of the mosque is larger than the Ataturk monument in the middle of the square, and as a result, organized protests erupted in Gezi Park, adjacent to the square, and was known at the time as the Gezi Park protests.

Moreover, Taksim Square is a destination to millions of tourists, especially Westerners who visit the Church of St. Anthony of Padua on Istiklal Avenue, and the Hagia Triada Greek Orthodox Church near the square.

Therefore, building a mosque of this size and in this place, observers say, will give the impression to tourists that “Turkey’s Islamic project is superior to the secular project of the West,” which Erdogan referred to when he opened the Taksim Mosque by saying: “You shall have no doubt that the sound echoing from the Taksim Mosque disturbs the greedy imperialists in our country and the supporters of terrorism.”

On the other hand, the arguments of those who support the construction of the mosque are based on the fact that “the area has no mosque to commensurate with the density of its population, and that this location is the land of a mosque originally for several decades. Therefore, obstructing or being sensitive to its construction is incomprehensible and unjustified, especially with the presence of giant churches in the area.”

Supporters also consider mosques to be “civilized landmarks that indicate the Turkish identity in the country, which hosts about 90 thousand mosques, of which about 3,500 are in Istanbul.”

 

Until the Day of Judgement

That long dispute in its last round lasted for less than two years, and in January 2017, the Council of State issued a decision invalidating the 1983 decision regarding the location of the mosque as a “protected land,” but it did not start building the mosque during that period despite the decision being issued.

After the coup attempt was eliminated in mid-July 2016, and the Council of State’s decision to nullify the “arbitrary resolution of 1983,” Erdogan was on a date with the establishment.

As promised, its construction was started until its completion and opening on May 28, 2021, which is the 568th anniversary of the opening of the city of Istanbul by Fatih Sultan Mehmed, to end 7 decades and several fierce rounds of conflict, at the end of which the civilizational “cultural project” of Turkey triumphed.

The Taksim Mosque and its facilities were built on a total area of ​​2,500 square meters, with a dome of 33 meters and minarets of 61 meters in height, and a capacity of 2,575 worshipers.

The mosque includes special halls for cultural exhibitions with an area of ​​155 square meters, in addition to an area designated for charitable endowments [waqfs] and organizations estimated at 180 square meters, and a private car park consisting of 3 underground floors that can accommodate 165 cars.

According to the official Anadolu Agency, the mosque was designed by the two Turkish architects working in the Turkish presidential complex, Shefik Birkiye (Şefik Birkiye) and Selim Dalaman.

At the opening ceremony, after performing the first Friday prayer at the mosque, President Erdogan said: “The Taksim Mosque is a gift to Istanbul on the 568th anniversary of its opening.”

And he wrote in a tweet on his account: “I hope that the Taksim Mosque, in which we performed the first Friday prayer today, will bring goodness to Istanbul, Turkey and the Islamic world. By the will of God Almighty, the worshipers will not miss a day in our mosque, the call to prayers from its minarets never be interrupted, and the sounds of the Quran rise from its dome until the Day of Judgment.”