Why does wp_links still exist in the db schema?

You answer yourself pretty much – “hidden” does not mean removed. It still works.

And yes, the reason would be backwards compatibility which is considered absolute priority in WP. See #21307 Remove Link Manager from core for context and discussion.

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Hata!: SQLSTATE[HY000] [1045] Access denied for user 'divattrend_liink'@'localhost' (using password: YES)