There are three squares which have shot to fame during our times in Asia, Africa and Europe: Tiananmen Square, Tahrir Square and now Taksim Square respectively. Tiananmen Square in Beijing hit global headlines in 1989 when thousands of Chinese spilled out onto the streets protesting against the political corruption in China. Hundreds of protesters died in the aftermath before the protest was mercilessly suppressed by those who were in power then.
Recently, we saw a similar protest in Tahrir Square in downtown Cairo against Hosni Mubarak’s dictatorial regime where again we witnessed the deaths of protesters for which the former president is standing trial now. Now another square starting with the same letter ‘T’, Taksim Square, is in the news.
This is located in the European quarter of Istanbul, the biggest city in Turkey.
The protest here is being led by a group called the Taksim Solidarity Group, which is opposing the construction of a mall by the government, on a rare patch of green known as the Gezi Park.
Turkey's prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan has conceded to a delegation of protesters in a recent meeting but he has warned the protesters to leave the park.
Being an ardent fan of Agatha Christie’s novels, especially 'Murder on the Orient Express,' I made it a point to take a close look at this train, during my last visit to Istanbul.
The Orient Express made its last journey to Istanbul in the year 1977.
Stepping into this historic train brought back memories of what I had seen in that box-office movie based on Agatha's novel, decades ago! This historic city has enough to provide for its visitors and now it has in addition Taksim Square. — S. H. Moulana, Riyadh
