Monument of Liberty, Istanbul

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For other freedom monuments, see Monument of Liberty.

The Monument of Liberty (Turkish: Hürriyet Anıtı or as mostly known as Ottoman Turkish: Abide-i Hürriyet), located in the neighborhood of Çağlayan in Şişli district of Istanbul, Turkey, is a memorial in honor of soldiers killed in action following the 31 March Incident occurred on April 13, 1909. Revealed on July 23, 1911, the place holds also the burials of four notable Ottoman high ranked officials, which were brought here in a later time. The monument, seen today as a symbol of modernism, democracy and laicism in Turkey,^[1] serves as the focal point of official ceremonies and public gatherings in Istanbul.

1 Design
2 Burials
3 Meeting point
4 Logo of Şişli district
5 References

[edit] Design

The monument is situated on the highest hill (130 m above the sea level) in Şişli, Istanbul, called "Hürriyet-i Ebediye Tepesi" (literally Eternal Liberty Hill) and lies today within a triangular area bordered by three major highways between Şişli and Çağlayan at 41°04′05″N 28°58′55″E / 41.06814, 28.982041Coordinates: 41°04′05″N 28°58′55″E / 41.06814, 28.982041.^[2]

It was designed by the renowned Ottoman architect Muzaffer Bey, who won the related architectural contest. The monument, constructed between 1909 and 1911 in the form of a cannon firing in the sky, is erected on an equilateral triangular base. On each side of the marble base, the names of the soldiers resting below are carved. On the monument, the tughra of Sultan Mehmed V Reşat is put on. It is situated in the center of a park with pathways like a pentagon star surrounded by a circle symbolizing the star and crescent in the Ottoman flag.

[edit] Burials

At the monument, the 74 soldiers killed in action of the 31 March Incident were initially buried with a state ceremony on July 23, 1911.

Remains of four high ranked officials of the Ottoman Empire were buried here later on as well:

Ahmet Şefik Mithat Pasha, a leading member of the Committee of Union and Progress died in exile in Taif, Arabia
Mahmud Şevket Pasha, commander of the Hareket Ordusu (The Army of Action), which put down the rebellion, and Grand vizier assassinated in 1913
Mehmed Talat Pasha, former Minister of War and Grand vizier assassinated in 1921, whose remains were brought in 1943 from Berlin, Germany
Enver Pasha, high ranking military officer and a leader of the Young Turk revolution, killed in action in Russian Turkestan, whose remains were brought 1996 from Ab-i Derya, today Tajikistan^[3]

[edit] Meeting point

The place serves as the meeting point for democracy and civil rights demonstrations in Istanbul. Labour Day demonstrations organized by trade unions were celebrated around this place many years long following the Taksim Square massacre in 1977.

The second mass rally of the Republic Protests targeting the presidential election took place here on April 29, 2007.^{[citation needed]}