Cumhuriyet Park ( tr, Cumhuriyet Parkı, "Park of the Republic") is a park in the

Gönyeli Gönyeli ( el, Κιόνελι, Kioneli; tr, Gönyeli) is a town in Cyprus, near the capital city Nicosia. It is ''de facto'' under the control of Northern Cyprus. Over the years the town has merged with North Nicosia, making it connurbation, conn ...

quarter of North Nicosia. It is the resting place of Rauf Denktaş, the founder of

Northern Cyprus Northern Cyprus ( tr, Kuzey Kıbrıs), officially the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC; tr, Kuzey Kıbrıs Türk Cumhuriyeti, ''KKTC''), is a ''de facto'' state that comprises the northeastern portion of the Geography of Cyprus, isl ...

, and is an important tourist attraction. The park covers an area of 100

dunam A dunam ( Ottoman Turkish, Arabic: ; tr, dönüm; he, דונם), also known as a donum or dunum and as the old, Turkish, or Ottoman stremma, was the Ottoman unit of area equivalent to the Greek stremma or English acre, representing the amount ...

s (approximately 134,000 m²) and is the biggest park and

urban green space In land-use planning, urban green space is open-space areas reserved for parks and other "green spaces", including plant life, water features -also referred to as blue spaces- and other kinds of natural environment. Most urban open spaces are ...

in Northern Cyprus. In 2007, it was reported by

Mustafa Akıncı Mustafa Akıncı (; born 28 December 1947) is a Turkish Cypriot politician who was the president of Northern Cyprus from April 2015 until October 2020. An architect by profession, Akıncı in 1976 became the first elected mayor of the Nicosia ...

to be in a poor condition, upon which 400 trees were planted in the park and water supply was restructured. In 2009,

eucalyptus ''Eucalyptus'' () is a genus of over seven hundred species of flowering trees, shrubs or mallees in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae. Along with several other genera in the tribe Eucalypteae, including '' Corymbia'', they are commonly known as euca ...

trees were planted and 250 more trees were planted in 2011. The park is home to a monument dedicated to the

Turkish Resistance Organization The Turkish Resistance Organisation ( tr, Türk Mukavemet Teşkilatı, TMT) was a Turkish Cypriot pro- taksim paramilitary organisation formed by Rauf Denktaş and Turkish military officer Rıza Vuruşkan in 1958 as an organisation to counter the ...

(TMT). On 17 January 2012, Rauf Denktaş was buried in the park. His grave lies 150 meters south of the TMT monument. The decision was taken by the cabinet as the park was perceived as a symbol of Northern Cyprus and the struggle of the Turkish Cypriot people. It was announced that a mausoleum would be constructed for Denktaş. The competition for the design of a mausoleum and a museum was announced on 1 September 2012, with a grand prize of 150,000

Turkish lira The lira ( tr, Türk lirası; sign: ₺; ISO 4217 code: TRY; abbreviation: TL) is the official currency of Turkey and Northern Cyprus. One lira is divided into one hundred ''kuruş''. History Ottoman lira (1844–1923) The lira, along with t ...

s. The competition had 104 participants, 20% of whom were Turkish Cypriots, and the winners were from

Istanbul Bilgi University Istanbul Bilgi University ( tr, İstanbul Bilgi Üniversitesi), officially established in 1996, is a private university located in Istanbul, Turkey. The university has 4 campuses centrally-located in Istanbul namely SantralIstanbul, Kuştepe, Do ...

Yıldız Technical University Yıldız Technical University ( Tr. ''Yıldız Teknik Üniversitesi'', often simply referred to as YTU or Yıldız) is a prominent technical university dedicated to engineering and natural sciences as well as social sciences recently, and is one ...

and

Bahçeşehir University Bahçeşehir University (BAU) is a private educational institution in Turkey, located around the Bosporus in Istanbul. The Turkish National Assembly authorized the establishment of the University of Bahçeşehir by the Bahçeşehir Uğur Educatio ...

. However, by 2014, no plans to begin the construction were on the agenda due to budgetary problems and the grave of Denktaş was reportedly in a poor condition. The park lies opposite the Dr Burhan Nalbantoğlu State Hospital.

References

{{coord missing, Cyprus Parks in Cyprus Nicosia