A little refresher on Taksim Square:
Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has reportedly labelled Istanbul's Taksim Square, which was rocked by deadly anti-government protests last year, "as the ugliest square in the world".
"If anyone tells me that Taksim is a perfect square, then I would tell him that it is the ugliest square in the world," Davutoglu told reporters.
"I have seen the squares in Venice and Isfahan," he said, referring to St Mark's Square and the immense Naqsh-e Jahan Square in the historic Iranian city.
"After seeing them, you feel yourself sucked into a vacuum on Taksim Square," he was quoted as saying by Milliyet newspaper on Monday.
A small campaign to save Istanbul's Gezi Park, adjacent to Taksim, in May-June 2013 eventually drew an estimated three million protesters in an outpouring of anger at the perceived authoritarian tendencies of the Islamic-rooted government.
Eight people died and thousands were injured in the ensuing violence as police launched a brutal crackdown, frequently employing tear gas and water cannon.
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