1976 - Legal celebrations 40 years later

1977 - Taksim Square had been declared off-limits since the bloodshed during a May Day rally there in 1977   when gunmen, believed to be far-right militants aided by members of the intelligence services, fired on a peaceful crowd, triggering mass panic. 37 people died.

2010 - The government's decision to fully open the square to May day celebrations comes after Parliament reinstated May Day as a national holiday in 2009 and allowed a limited group of union leaders and workers into Taksim on May 1 to commemorate the 1977 bloodshed.