Taksim was a cemetery.
Taksim was a cemetery... Until the 17th century, there was not much on Istiklal Avenue and Taksim, the most important centers of Istanbul and even Turkey today, other than a few orchard houses. Since this area was outside the Galata walls, the people living in Galata started to use today's Tepebaşı, Istiklal Avenue and Taksim as their cemeteries. However, the area turned into the largest cemetery in the city during the Ottoman reign. In 1560, during the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent, when a great cholera epidemic broke out in Istanbul, the sultan banned burials in the city walls and in Galata, which was also within the city walls. After that date, the bodies of those who died in the city were taken outside the city walls and buried in Taksim and its surroundings in order to prevent the spread of the disease. Thus, a large area extending from Sıraselviler, which includes today's Gezi Park, to Harbiye and Kasımpaşa on one side and Dolmabahçe on the other, was turned into a large cemetery with separate sections for each nation. The area, which was transformed into a large cemetery due to cholera, was also cut off from the cemeteries around Galata and Tepebaşı. For this reason, Europeans called the cemeteries in Galata and Tepebaşı "Petit Champ des Morts", meaning "Small Cemetery", and Taksim and its surroundings "Champ des Morts", meaning "Big Cemetery". Almost every nation had separate areas in the cemetery; the area extending from Parmakkapı Street to Taksim and from there to Talimhane Square belonged to the Greeks; the area extending from the area where Gezi Park is today to Harbiye belonged to the Armenians; the area from Taksim to Cihangir and on the left belonged to the Latins; the area extending from Ayaspaşa to Dolmabahçe and the road extending from Taksim to Kasımpaşa belonged to the Muslims. A section of Gezi Park, which is causing great controversy today, was used as an Armenian cemetery almost until the last years of the Ottoman Empire. According to some Armenian sources, this area was given to the Armenian community by Manuk Karaseferyan, the cook from Van who saved Suleiman the Magnificent from being poisoned during the Buda Campaign. Sultan Abdülhamid I, who reigned between 1774-1789 and made great strides for the modernization of the army, had a wooden barracks built for the Artillery Units separating Taksim and the Armenian cemetery. When this wooden barracks was destroyed by fire in 1794, Selim III had his palace architect Kirkor Balyan build a modern, reinforced concrete barracks in the same region. Construction was only completed in 1806, which is the first version of the barracks whose reconstruction is still being discussed today. Author: Saro Dadyan
