Maçka Democracy Park is a recreational area in

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

, Turkey, which has paths for jogging, walking and dog walking. It also has children's areas, rest areas and benches and decorative pools.

History

The area was part of the

Dolmabahçe Palace Dolmabahçe Palace ( ) is a 19th-century imperial palace located in Istanbul, Turkey, along the European shore of the Bosporus, which served as the main administrative center of the Ottoman Empire from 1856 to 1887 and from 1909 to 1922. Histor ...

's gardens and was separated from the gardens being used as a parkland in the mid-19th century. It had been named as Maçka Park referring to people from the Black Sea region who were sent to

Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...

shortly after the conquest of the region by

Mehmed II Mehmed II (; , ; 30 March 14323 May 1481), commonly known as Mehmed the Conqueror (; ), was twice the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from August 1444 to September 1446 and then later from February 1451 to May 1481. In Mehmed II's first reign, ...

in 1461. Its name remained as Maçka Park until 1993 when it was renovated and renamed as Maçka Democracy Park.

December 2016 bombing

On 10 December 2016, the park was the site of a

suicide bombing A suicide attack (also known by a wide variety of other names, see below) is a deliberate attack in which the perpetrators knowingly sacrifice their own lives as part of the attack. These attacks are a form of murder–suicide that is ofte ...

, one of two bombings that day for which the

Kurdistan Freedom Hawks The Kurdistan Freedom Hawks, or TAK (), is a Kurdish nationalist militant group in Turkey seeking an independent Kurdish state in Turkish Kurdistan (eastern and southeastern Turkey). The group also opposes the Turkish government's policies towa ...

claimed responsibility. The suicide bombing killed four police officers and one civilian at the park.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Macka Park Parks in Istanbul Şişli Dolmabahçe Palace