15 Temmuz Kızılay Milli İrade Meydanı

Hikayemiz

July 15th Kızılay National Will Square, originally Kızılay Square, is one of the most important centers and junction points of Ankara, Turkey. After the 27 May 1960 coup d'état it was formally renamed as Hürriyet Meydanı but the popular use of Kızılay Meydanı continued. Following the failed coup attempt of 15 July 2016, Ankara Metropolitan Municipality initially decided on 26 July 2016 to rename the square as 15 Temmuz Kızılay Demokrasi Meydanı, which was later amended as 15 Temmuz Kızılay Milli İrade Meydanı on 9 August 2016.GeographyThe square at is the intersection of two major boulevards. Atatürk Boulevard (Atatürk Bulvarı) running from south to north is popularly called the "Protocol Road". The east part of the other boulevard is named Ziya Gökalp Boulevard (formerly Kazım Özalp Boulevard) and the west part is named Gazi Mustafa Kemal Boulevard. Kahramanlar Business Center (formerly Kızılay Emek Business Center) is situated to the southeast and Güven Park is situated to the southwest of the square. The Kızılay AVM shopping mall, which replaced the former Kızılay (Turkish Red Crescent) headquarters, is situated to the northwest.HistoryThe square was named Kızılay after the Turkish Red Crescent headquarters, which was built on its northwest in 1929 In those years, the city center was located to the north of Kızılay, but Ankara was redesigned by a group of urban planners including Hermann Jansen. After the development of the new quarters, the center of the city eventually shifted toward the neighborhoods around the square, and in fact those quarters are now known as Kızılay.