ISTANBUL – Thousands of Turkish citizens on Friday flocked to Istanbul’s central Taksim Square to mark the inauguration of the new mosque inaugurated by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The inauguration pleased a long-held ambition by previous governments to build a Muslim place of worship in the square in the heart of Turkey’s largest metropolis. The build host a congregation of up to 4,000 worshippers and boasts a parking area, besides exhibition halls.
The foundations of the Taksim mosque were laid on February 17, 2017. The worship place covers at least 26,716 square feet. Celebrated calligraphist Davut Bektas and miniaturist Adem Turan contributed their works with inscriptions from the Quran.
At least 28 feet mihrab is built into one of its walls, while a luminous chandelier of 60 lights and 12 meters in diameter hangs from the mosque’s ceiling.
The construction of this masterpiece completed after decades of court battles and public debate as the Taksim square is considered as a symbol of Turkey’s founding father Mustafa Kemal Ataturk’s secularism.
The Turkish President pushed for the establishment of a mosque in the Taksim square when he was Istanbul’s mayor in the 1990s. The plans were delayed by a military intervention in 1997 that deposed the country’s Islamist government and by a series of legal and public battles.
Reports in Turkish media suggest that the anniversary of massive anti-government protests coincided with the inauguration which started in 2013, due to government construction plans.
Big screens mounted in the square showed the first Friday prayer at the mosque while worshippers sat on disposable mats. Turkish premier while speaking at the inauguration said ‘Mosques has already taken its distinguished place among the symbols of Istanbul and he expressed hoped it would illuminate the city like an oil lamp for centuries to come’.
“Taksim Mosque has already taken its unique place among the symbols of Istanbul” https://t.co/SPtqU86evL pic.twitter.com/hMY7BvG1yj
— Presidency of the Republic of Türkiye (@trpresidency) May 28, 2021
Erdogan added that in addition to being a place of worship, this Mosque will be one of the most important cultural and artistic centers of Istanbul with its digital library and reading, lounge, and exhibition areas. He mentioned that he considered the Taksim Mosque a ‘salute to the Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque, which we opened to worship a while ago, as a gift to the 568th anniversary of the conquest of Istanbul’.
On the other hand, the site of the mosque, Taksim Square, is a busy nightlife, shopping, and dining area. The resistance in the construction of the mosque stemmed from the background as it was home to secular residents. There are also a number of churches in the vicinity, including the city’s largest Greek Orthodox church.
Secular leaders in the country criticized the move and termed it a political move. ‘Erdogan appears determined to leave his indelible mark on Turkey’, the critics said to international news outlets.
Earlier in 2020, Erdogan reconverted Hagia Sophia into a mosque and a museum.
