Explore the architecture of Istanbul’s historical Beyazıt Square
The deep-rooted history and splendid architecture of structures in the spacious Beyazıt Square make the place a landmark in the city
WE HAVE been away from the streets and had to cancel or postpone our travel plans for a while due to the coronavirus outbreak. Istanbul, one of the cities where historical tourism is the most vibrant, has also had its share of the pandemic-driven hitches. However, a revival can begin with vaccination, boosting hope for normalization.
Nevertheless, it is more plausible to visit outdoor historical squares rather than indoor areas in order to comply with measures in such a challenging period. In this respect, Istanbul’s Beyazıt Square, one of the most rooted squares in the city, is worth seeing. Let us take a look at the square, which is a cradle of culture in the strictest sense with its architectural structures and historical texture.
TRACES OF SULTAN BAYEZID
A palace was built in the Beyazıt Square in the wake of the conquest of Istanbul (1453) since the imperial palace was in a miserable state due to both the Latin invasion and financial incapability. This palace was built so that the sultan had a place to reside until the imperial one was prepared. This very first Ottoman palace in the square was completed five years after the conquest in 1458. It was later referred to as the “Old Palace” after the construction of the imperial Topkapı Palace.
During the reign of Sultan Mehmed II, also known as Mehmed the Conqueror, (1451-1481) the city saw the construction of several architectural structures. These efforts were maintained and improved further by his son and successor Sultan Bayezid II (14811512), who took an eager interest in arts and architecture. After the long period of conquests during the reign of Sultan Mehmed II, his son attached even greater importance to reconstruction work.
For example, a mosque complex named after Sultan Bayezid was built to the south of the Old Palace between 1506 and 1512. After the construction of the complex, the area between the walls of this Old Palace and the buildings of the complex was called Beyazıt Square. There are several similar architectural structures belonging to Sultan Bayezid II and named after him in both Istanbul and other major cities, including Amasya and Edirne.
With the construction of the mosque complex, the square became one of the most active places of sociocultural life during the Ottoman classical period. Due to the Bayezid Mosque and surrounding bazaars, inns and madrassas, the square was the most hectic venue in the city. It was cleaned and swept twice a month on orders.
This was the place where wedding ceremonies of the daughters of sultans and the circumcision ceremonies of şehzades (a sultan’s sons) were held. For ceremonies, nahıls, which are decorated artificial trees, were made, and they were displayed and presented to the public in the square.
The square was also one of the numberone places for public entertainment. Musicians, fortune tellers, animal charmers, jugglers and acrobats boosted the popularity of the square with their performances. German pastor Stephan Gerlach, who visited Istanbul with the Austrian Embassy delegation, describes such shows in detail in his memoirs titled “Turkey Diary.”
FROM MOSQUE TO SAHAF
The most remarkable structure in the square is surely the mosque complex. It was designed as a center of services along with the structures around it. The free shelter was provided to the homeless in a section called “tabhane,” while free food was distributed in a place called “aşhane-imaret” in this structure.
The courtyard of the mosque, which has gates on three sides, is surrounded by domed porticos. There are windows in double rows in the outer walls of the courtyard. Famous Ottoman traveler Evliya Çelebi wrote that there were four cypress trees planted by Sultan Bayezid himself in this courtyard, but none of them have survived. The tomb of Sultan Bayezid is also in this courtyard.
The portal of the mosque is of exceptional architectural beauty when compared to its equivalents. Its dome, which has a height of 31 meters (102 feet) inside, has a magnificent exterior with cubic blocks around it. Due to the destruction of the original structure of the Fatih Mosque, which was constructed between 1463 and 1470 and named after Sultan Mehmed II – known in Turkish as Fatih Sultan Mehmed – in an earthquake, Bayezid Mosque is the oldest sultan mosque preserved in Istanbul.
The madrassa section of the mosque complex was one of the most important educational centers in the city. It seems like an independent building because it was built a little far away from the mosque. The building was rather dilapidated in the 1930s but went through a comprehensive repair in the 1940s and was turned into a municipal city library in 1943. After serving for 40 years, the library was moved and the building has been used as the Museum of Turkish Calligraphy Arts since 1984.
Among the surrounding structures that made the mosque complex a cultural center is Bayezid State Library, which is located right next to it and was the first library built by the state. Mostly, all libraries in the Ottoman state were considered foundation works and run with private financial support.
As you head from the mosque toward the Grand Bazaar, you see the Sahaflar Çarşısı, or bazaar of sahafs, the second-hand booksellers. Many famous intellectuals of recent history used to gather in this bazaar. In fact, as its name suggests, this was a place where old books were sold. But it has turned into shops selling new books today.
FAMOUS GATE
Although the famous gate opposite the mosque is known as the Bayezid entrance gate of Istanbul University, it was called “Bab-ı Seraskeri” (the Gate of Serasker) in the Ottoman era. “Serasker” is the title granted to the chief commander of the Ottoman land forces. This area, where the Old Palace was located, was allocated to military authorities after the construction of new palaces. In times of both peace and war, all military affairs were carried out by these authorities here.
Therefore, the middle part of the gate features the inscription “Daire-i Umur-ı Askeriyye” (“Military Affairs Department”) in large letters. Also, the first and third verses of Surah Al-Fath, the 48th chapter of the Quran, are inscribed on the right side and left side, respectively. The first verse reads, “Indeed, We have granted you a clear triumph,” while the third verse reads, “And so that Allah will help you tremendously.”
Above the gate was a tughra or an official signature belonging to Sultan Abdülaziz. In 1933, however, it was covered along with many other places at that time. During restoration work to restore the structure to its original state in 2014, the marble cladding on the tughra was removed, and it was brought to light again.
A COURT yesterday handed down five sentences of aggravated life imprisonment plus an additional 24 years to Mehmet Ali Çayıroğlu, a defendant implicated in up to 12 murders mainly targeting elderly couples.
The 46-year-old former convict – who was running a delicatessen in Akkuş, a district in the northern Ordu – was detained in 2018 on two separate charges of theft, but an investigation revealed he may be the prime suspect in the deaths of 12 people that year in the province and neighboring Samsun. Most of the deaths were initially treated as accidents as victims either died in house fires or in gas leaks. His connection to four of the deaths has not yet been established but Çayıroğlu was charged with eight murders.
He was taken into custody in Elazığ, an eastern province. At the trial’s final hearing at a courthouse in Ordu’s Ünye district, Çayıroğlu pled not guilty to the charges. “I have nothing to do with those crimes. If I was such a violent psychopath, I’d kill anyone in the prison,” he told the court before the verdict was read out.
The court convicted him for the murders of Senai and Ümit Türedi and Hasan, Sabri and Zahide Güneş. Çayıroğlu was slapped with the additional 24-year term for “looting,” a charge he faced for stealing the possessions of his victims. He was acquitted of Dursun Kurt’s murder and a separate trial is pending for the death of Hasan Bayram in Akkuş. An additional murder investigation is ongoing.
After their houses burned down in July 2018, 68-year-old Sabri Güneş, his son Hasan and his daughter-in-law Zahide were found dead. Senai and Ümit Türedi, an elderly couple, died from gas poisoning in their home.
Dursun Kurt, an elderly man who died when his house caught fire, is another Çayıroğlu victim according to prosecutors. “Why should I kill him? He always helped me, he was like a father to me,” Çayıroğlu told the court about Kurt. He was acquitted of that murder due to lack of evidence.
A separate trial will be held over the death of Hasan Bayram, who died in July 2018 of gas poisoning at his home in Akkuş, an incident prosecutors believe was a plot by the defendant. Another investigation is ongoing into whether the suspect was involved in the February 2018 deaths of an elderly woman and her two daughters in a village in Samsun.
The indictment says the suspect came into contact with his victims, mostly elderly people living alone, as a customer seeking to buy their cattle for his shop. He is accused of stealing the cattle and personal possessions of victims after each murder. A search of a house in a remote part of Ordu discovered stolen cattle, along with three shotguns, cellphones and other items stolen from victims.
Prosecutors examining a security camera he set up in his house discovered Çayıroğlu left home in camouflage clothing at midnight and returned early in the morning, in dates and hours corresponding to the hours of five murders. Photos of some victims were found on his cellphone.
According to the indictment, Çayıroğlu picked elderly and lonely people as his targets and took their photos before killing them. He would “bargain” with victims intent on selling cattle to him and would later visit them wearing camouflage clothing. Some victims were restrained with plastic handcuffs before Çayıroğlu poisoned them with gas and burned down their houses.
Most of the murders took place between February and July 2018. Investigators discovered the suspect had spoken on the phone with a couple found burned to death in their home, while personal possessions of Hasan Bayram were found in Çayıroğlu’s house. Another cellphone and a gun belonging to two victims were also found in the suspect’s possession.
Serial killers are rare in Turkey, though a fair number have been convicted in the past. In 2019, a man was sentenced to life for a 2018 murder in the central province of Kayseri, his seventh killing.
AUSTRALIA’S parliament passed landmark legislation yesterday requiring global digital giants to pay for local news content, in a move closely watched around the world.
The law passed easily after a lastgasp deal that watered down binding rules Facebook and Google had fiercely opposed in return for the tech giants agreeing to pay local media companies.
The new law paves the way for Google and Facebook to invest tens of millions of dollars in local content deals and could prove a model for resolving the firms’ tussles with regulators worldwide.
Google will now pay for news content that appears on its “Showcase” product and Facebook is expected to pay providers who appear on its “News” product, which is to be rolled out in Australia later this year. Regulators had accused the companies, who dominate online advertising, of draining cash away from traditional news organizations while using their content for free.
Big tech firms had fiercely opposed the legislation from the outset, fearing it would threaten their business models. In particular, the companies objected to rules that made negotiations with media companies mandatory and gave an independent Australian arbiter the right to impose a monetary settlement.
That prospect was dramatically reduced by last-minute government amendments. “Importantly, the code encourages parties to undertake commercial negotiations outside the code and the government is pleased to see progress by both Google and more recently Facebook in reaching commercial arrangements with Australian news media businesses,” Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said in a statement. Google was also keen to avoid creating a precedent that platforms should pay anyone for links, something that could make their flagship search engine unworkable.
Facebook – which is much less reliant on news content – had initially said being forced to pay for news was simply not worth it and shut down access to news content for its Australian users.
The government said the law, called the News Media and Digital Platforms Mandatory Bargaining Code, would ensure that news businesses “are fairly remunerated for the content they generate, helping to sustain public interest journalism in Australia.”
Facebook and Google now have an additional two months to reach further agreements that would stave off binding arbitration. Google has already brokered deals worth millions of dollars with local media companies, including the two largest: Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp and Nine Entertainment.
Facebook on Tuesday lifted a sitewide ban on Australian news, introduced in protest at the law, and announced its first proposed deal with an Australian media company, Seven West. Both Facebook and Google have said they will invest around $1 billion each in news around the world over the next three years.
Critics of the law say it punishes innovative companies and amounts to a money-grab by struggling – but politically connected – traditional media. Tech insiders see the legislation as driven, in particular, by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp, which dominates the local media landscape and has close ties with Australia’s conservative government.
Nick Clegg, head of global affairs, yesterday said the original draft of the law would have forced Facebook to pay “potentially unlimited amounts of money to multinational media conglomerates under an arbitration system that deliberately misdescribes the relationship between publishers and Facebook.”
Thousands of journalism jobs and scores of news outlets have been lost in Australia alone over the past decade as the sector watched advertising revenue flow to the digital players. For every $100 spent by Australian advertisers today, $49 goes to Google and $24 to Facebook, according to the country’s competition watchdog.