Historical information of Istanbul Gülhane Park
During the Ottoman Empire, the greenhouse park was the outer garden of the Topkapi Palace and included a grove and rose gardens. The Decree of Adjustment, the first concrete step of democratization in Turkish history, was read by Foreign Minister Mustafa Reşit Paşa on November 3, 1839, in Gülhane Park, during the reign of Abdülmejit, which is why it is also called Gülhane Hattı Hümayun.
Many changes were made during the time of the Mini City of Istanbul and the municipality of Cemil Pasha (Topuzlu). In 1912, it was turned into a park, and the entrance was open to the public. The total area of the greenhouse park in Istanbul is about 163 hectares. At the park’s entrance, on the right, are busts of the mayors of Istanbul. A tree-lined road runs through the middle of the park. There are resting places and playgrounds on this road’s right and left sides. A statue of Aşık Veysel is on the right side of the slope, and a column of Goths left by the Romans can be seen at the top towards the end of the hill.
It is said that during the period when the Turkish secret police were looking for Nazem Hekmat, one day, he and his fiancée met in Gülhane Park under a walnut tree. Nazem Hekmat comes and waits under the tree but suddenly notices the constables around the park, climbs the tree, and waits for them to leave. In the meantime, his fiancée came and stayed under the tree for a while, hoping for her to come. Then he went, and Nazem Hekmat wrote this poem about the walnut tree in his mind. It describes his situation at the head of the tree or as if he is the tree itself.
The Sarayburnu part of the park used to be connected to the central park by a bridge over the Sirkeci railway line. The Coastal Road (1958) later separated this part from the park. The first Atatürk statue erected after the Republic (October 3, 1926) is in Sarajevo. This statue was created by the Australian architect Cripple.
While Atatürk’s body was sent to Ankara, the last rites were held in Istanbul on November 19, 1938, in the Sarayburnu section of Gülhane Park. Atatürk’s coffin was removed from the carriage by 12 generals and placed on the destroyer Zafar to be transferred to the warship Yavuz.
On September 1, 1928, Atatürk exhibited Latin letters for the first time in the Gülhane Park
