Authors: Ege Kaan Bentürk, Ayşe Begüm Acar
Abstract
Public gardens have been influenced by the changes in social structure and needs of society. In the Late Ottoman era, Istanbul had diversity among its districts in terms of social structure. Hence, in time, the subjects of parks had been changed gradually. This study underlines the influence of social dynamics on two parks: Taksim Tepebaşı Garden in Pera, and Gülhane Park in Fatih. While Fatih is one of the oldest districts of Istanbul, Pera is a developing one that had been emigrated by people mostly from Europe. Therefore, in urban parks, some subjects are included or excluded considering the aspects of religion, wealth, and presence of women in the society. Furthermore, in this study, the subjects of Tepebaşı Garden and Gülhane Park are examined and the differences between them are explained with the social structures of Pera and Fatih.
1. Introduction
The aim of this work is to examine the perception of parks by focusing on the conditions of Ottoman Muslim women in Taksim Tepebaşı Garden in Pera and Gülhane Park in Fatih. The prohibitions and regulations on Muslim women’s presence in recreational spaces are examined. The motivations for these regulations shed light on the understanding of morality in the Ottoman Empire. This study consists of 4 subjections: the existence of women in public spaces in Ottoman era, the presence of Muslim women in Taksim Tepebaşı garden located in Pera , and the presence of Muslim women in Gülhane Park located in Fatih.
2. The Existence of Women in Public Spaces in Ottoman Era
Public Gardens flourished in the eighteenth century, with some imperial gardens, such as Gülhane Garden, being converted into public gardens mostly in order to provide healthy environments. Rise of gardens as recreational areas in the eighteenth century was also evident in verse and paintings. The Ottoman Empire attempted to control gender segregation in public spaces through bu-reaucratic and religious rules. These rules mainly controlled the presence of women, but in some cases men also became the subject of regulations. They show the normative ideas in the Ottoman Empire. Moreover, the morality of society depended mainly on the morality of women. Women’s morality was defined by appropriate dress and separation from men in public spaces. The state was responsible for controlling women’s morality, their dress, and their presence in public spaces, because there was a fixed relationship between the legitimacy of the state and women’s dress and protection.[1]
3. The Presence of Muslim Women in Taksim Tepebaşı Garden Located In Pera
In 7 January 1875, it was announced the banning Muslim women from entering the Taksim Tepebaşı Garden. According to news reports, police had already banned Muslim women from entering and walking around the Tepebaşı Garden. However, due to this ban, some Turkish women near the Tepebaşı Garden were reported to the police. Based on this report, the police recalled the earlier order through the newspapers. This news shows the concern of the state for the parks, but also the possibility of breaking the rules by women. This prohibition applied only to Muslim women. Non-Muslim women often went to the Tepebaşı Garden.
Another source about the Tepebaşı Garden is the article ‘’Taksim Municipal Garden’’ in the Journal of Women’s World, which consists of two separate parts. In the first part, the Taksim Garden is described with reference to the men’s words, ‘’As we heard from men, the Taksim Municipal Garden is …’’. In accordance with the historical description of the Taksim Garden, there were cinema shows, swings, performances of the best theater and opera companies and concerts on Friday and Sunday. In addition to describing the entertainment opportunities, the impact of the natural beauty of Taksim Garden on people’s mental and physical health was also highlighted. Children also benefited from the peaceful atmosphere of Taksim Garden when they went to the garden with their nannies or mothers in the morning. All these descriptions about the Taksim Garden were based on the words of the men and not on the observations of the women. The phrase “as we heard from our husbands’’ in each sentence emphasizes the absence of Muslim women in the Taksim Garden. Undoubtedly, the subliminal absence of Muslim women could be read as a criticism of the ban on Muslim women in the Taksim Garden.
There is no description or reference to the Taksim Garden in the second section. It is about the flooding and expulsion of Muslims from the Balkans to Istanbul and the situation of the nation. This section, and the article itself, ended with a question about how our race could return to power as in the past. The author declined to answer this question because only men might be able to answer it. The opinion of the editorial board was that men were responsible for the nation’s disaster because they were in public service and could enjoy new pleasures and leisure activities without obstacles, while women were excluded from public service and new places of pleasure such as the Taksim Garden. According to the author, this text can be read in two ways: ‘’first, as an emphasis on the exclusion of Muslim women from public life as the cause of the country’s problems, and second, as a call to action that juxtaposes the dire situation of the country and its poor with lax public spending and consumption.[2]
4. Gülhane Garden
Gülhane Garden is one of the oldest public parks in Istanbul.[3] . It is located between Alay Köşkü and Sarayburnu in Fatih: a traditional, conservative, and Muslim-dominated quarter of the city.[4]
4.1 Its conversion to a public garden
In its primary times, it was one of the gardens of Topkapı Palace that Mehmed the Conqueror commissioned. Then, with its mansions and pavilions, the place became a pleasure garden. As Demirkaya cited, the site consists of interlocking courtyards that provide the entrance and Gülhane Park is the fifth courtyard. The park had been in the limelight of Sultans for years, and in 1913, it was made open to the public.
Cemil Pasha was the founding mayor of Gülhane Garden, and he stated that he would build gardens for people's fresh air needs. Sultan Mehmed Reşad declined to give the garden of Topkapı Palace at first. However, after Sultan's medical experiments, Cemil Pasha could highlight that it is essential to have a garden to coordinate public health. As a result, the conversion of the court garden of Topkapı Palace to a public park could be achieved.[5]
4.2 The presence of women in Gülhane Garden
On the day Gülhane Garden was opened, men and women were seen together. However, Enver Pasha, who was quite conservative, objected that by stating women going into the park must be forbidden. On the other hand, Cemal Pasha highlighted the wishes of Cemil Pasha on public health and suggested there should be a separate day dedicated to women. He promised that men and women would go to parks together in the future. Cemal Pasha realized his promise one month later. However, Cemil Pasha received numerous insult letters from various conservative people. A Document written by Daire-i Meşihat-i İslam (Directorate of Religious Affairs) to the Ministry of Interior denounced this situation. It stated that it would harm the Islamic life to open a garden within the Topkapı Palace, so women's entrance should be banned on Sunday days.
However, the presence of women and men together, was limited and subject to some conditions: Women must be together with a close male relative or husband. The author obviously instructed female readers to go to Gülhane Park with a close male relative or husband. Moreover, it was described that women are safe only under the protection of male relatives.
The togetherness of men and women was also described in visual sources, such as two postcards of indeterminate date in the Atatürk Library titled ‘’Turkish Women Walking in Gülhane Park’’ and ‘’Gülhane Park’’. The first photo postcard shows women with veiled faces, some men are not so far from the women but they are not together with them also. In the second illustrated postcard, it shows a man holding hands with a veiled woman, probably his wife. It was argued that postcards were used for propaganda in the Ottoman Empire before the First World War. The images that were chosen depicted specific events and expressed the public’s support for those events. The propaganda of these postcards is the opening of a new park and the presence of women and men in the park, as a sign of modernity.[6]
Figure 1: Muslim Women Touring in Gülhane Park
Figure 2: People at Gülhane Park
5. Conclusion
The parks have been developed as a product of the social conditions of the world in the nineteenth century. The situation of Muslim women in public spaces, or outside the home was regulated by the administrative and religious apparatuses of the Ottoman Empire for Islamic, social, economic, and political reasons. This study emphasizes that the presence of Muslim women in public spaces was linked to the morality society. Moreover the morality of society was linked to the authority and legitimacy of the state in the Ottoman Empire. In this context, the debate and the prohibition of Muslim women’s access to parks are not a big surprise. We would like to emphasize that the documents on gardens and parks in the archive deal mainly with women’s conditions. Thus, the state’s perspective on public gardens and parks is mostly related to the perception of Muslim women in public spaces. It is clear that the Empire was concerned about the presence of Muslim women in parks. Moreover, in the novels, parks were usually described with morally depraved women. The degeneration of the male characters began when they made a habit of going to parks. While the archives show the concerns of the Empire, the novels convey the popular opinion of the parks of the time. This thesis therefore argues that parks in the Ottoman Empire were perceived as a threat to the morality of society.
Further Reading
Boyar, Ebru, and Kate Fleet. A Social History of Ottoman Istanbul. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. 2010.
Çelik, Zeynep. The Remaking of Istanbul: Portrait of an Ottoman City in the Nineteenth Century. Berkeley: University of California Press. 1993. Demirkaya, Rahşan. “Tarihi Kentlerde Tarihi Park ve Bahçelerin Değerlendirilmesi ve İstanbul Örneği.” Master’s thesis, Istanbul Technical University, 1999. Evyapan, Gönül Aslanoğlu. Old Turkish Gardens: Old Istanbul Gardens in Particular. Ankara: ODTÜ Mimarlık Fakültesi Yayınları. 1999.
Küçük, Mustafa Emir. “Urban Parks of İstanbul in the Late Ottoman Empire: Constructed Nature for Recreation Aims.” Master’s thesis, Boğaziçi University, 2019.
[1]Mustafa Emir Küçük, “Urban Parks of İstanbul in the Late Ottoman Empire: Constructed Nature for Recreation Aims”, Thesis, (Boğaziçi University, 2019), 64-68.
[2] Ibid, 68-70.
[3] Rahşan Demirkaya, “Tarihi Kentlerde Tarihi Park ve Bahçelerin Değerlendirilmesi ve İstanbul Örneği,” Master’s Thesis, (Istanbul Technical University, 1999), 80.
[4] Ebru Boyar and Kate Fleet, A Social History of Ottoman Istanbul, (Cambridge University Press, 2010), 246.
[5] Faik Yaltırık, Asuman Efe and Adnan Uzun, Tarih Boyunca İstanbul’un Park ve Koruları, Egzotik Ağaç ve Çalıları, (İstanbul: İSFALT, 1997).
[6] Küçük, 71-73.
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