ISTANBUL'S TAKSIM SQUARE: AS A TERRAIN OF POLITICAL SYMBOL AND MATTER OF CONTESTATION (original) (raw)
Urban spaces are the representatives of political ideologies and concern of power relations. Istanbul's Taksim Square is such a public space that serves as a political representation and a symbolic for many ideological groups in Turkey. Its symbolic characteristic arose from its production, as it was planned and organized to signify the hegemonic power and the ideology of the early Republican state. However, as political balance shifts, many ideological groups have claims on the hegemonic meaning of the Square. Through this claims, the symbolic meaning of Taksim has become a matter of contestation. Lately, in 2013, following the announcement of AKP's grand projects in Taksim, Turkey witnessed a massive public demonstration.
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