Taksim Square stands at the heart of modern Istanbul, a wide open plaza that functions as both transit hub and gathering place — the point at which demonstrations assemble, celebrations overflow, and the city's European quarter converges. On Republic Day, it draws crowds: families, visitors, police maintaining security for the holiday events. The thirty-two people injured on October 31, 2010 were there because it was a public holiday, or because they were on duty, or because Taksim is simply where Istanbul moves. Fifteen of the injured were police officers who had been stationed at the square for the Republic Day security operation. The remaining seventeen were civilians. All thirty-two survived.

The device was detonated at a moment when Turkish President Abdullah Gül was due to arrive at a nearby location for Republic Day events — the timing almost certainly deliberate. Police were present in significant numbers for the presidential visit and the holiday celebrations. The TAK, in a statement published on their website, said they had targeted 'the police force of Turkish fascism at Istanbul's Taksim Square.' Bomb squads discovered multiple additional explosive devices at the scene after the initial detonation, which they subsequently rendered safe. The attacker died in the explosion. No fatalities occurred among the thirty-two injured.

The Kurdistan Freedom Hawks (TAK) is a splinter organization connected to, but separate from, the larger Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). The PKK had declared a unilateral ceasefire approximately two months before the Taksim bombing; that ceasefire was due to expire on October 31 — the very day of the attack. The PKK's spokesman stated he had 'no idea' about the bombing, and the PKK formally denied involvement. Following the attack, the PKK announced it was extending its unilateral ceasefire until the 2011 Turkish general election. The TAK's claim was explicit and unambiguous. The distinction between the two organizations — one having declared a ceasefire, the other carrying out an attack on the same day — became part of the legal and political complexity that followed.

Republic Day — October 29, celebrated over several days — commemorates the founding of the Turkish Republic and is one of the country's most significant national occasions. The choice to strike on the final day of Republic Day celebrations, at the most prominent public square in Istanbul's European quarter, while the President was due nearby, was not coincidental. It was an attempt to insert political violence into a moment of national celebration, to turn commemoration into crisis. That attempt failed in its largest ambition — the President was not harmed, no one was killed, and the city went on — but it succeeded in injuring thirty-two people and briefly transforming a public holiday into a scene of emergency response.

Governments from Turkey, the Kurdistan Regional Government, Kuwait, Russia, and the United States condemned the attack. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called it 'a shocking crime' and pledged continued cooperation with Turkey against violent extremism. The Kurdistan Regional Government — whose condemnation carried particular weight given the attack's claimed origins in the Kurdish separatist movement — expressed sympathy to the victims and their families. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said those who threatened Turkey's peace would not be tolerated. The thirty-two injured recovered. Taksim Square, which cannot remain closed for long without the city ceasing to function, returned to ordinary use. The Republic Day that followed the next year was marked without incident.