Abide-i Hürriyet Meydanı

About Abide-i Hürriyet Meydanı

Abide-i Hürriyet Meydanı is a landscaped memorial square built by Bornova Municipality in the Kazım Dirik neighbourhood, right next to Yaşar University between Sanayi Caddesi and Üniversite Caddesi. It was opened on 28 April 2025 with the historian İlber Ortaylı among the guests. The square was designed to commemorate those who lost their lives during the 31 March Incident, the uprising in the Ottoman Empire against the constitutional regime and modernisation movements. According to the municipality, the first section presents 18 historic Turkish states and their founders. The second section holds the pioneers of the Committee of Union and Progress and a representative monument to the 71 people killed in the 31 March Incident. The square also features a trio of statues of Atatürk, Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror and Hector, the symbolic hero of the Trojan War, along with the Orkhon Inscriptions, a great beech tree and statues of various historical figures. The flags of the Republic of Türkiye and of 18 Turkish states fly over the site.