Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has described Istanbul’s iconic Taksim Square as “the world’s ugliest square,” the Hurriyet Daily News reports.
“If anyone tells me that Taksim is a perfect square, then I would tell him that it is the world’s ugliest square,” Davutoglu told a group of journalists aboard the prime ministerial ANA aircraft, returning to Ankara from an official trip to the northern province of Amasya.
“I know about the squares in Venice and in Isfahan … After seeing them, you feel yourself in a vacuum on Taksim Square,” he added, also labelling both Taksim’s Atatürk Cultural Center (AKM) and neighboring hotel as “ugly.”
“Taksim Square was not gradually developed as a culture, unlike in Venice and Isfahan. Incidentally, if Taksim had not been formed and a military barracks had not been built there, there wouldn’t even be a square,” Davutoglu also said, adding that an Armenian cemetery had been located in the area in the past.
