Cycles of memory and space: state monumentality and exodos in Ankara, Türkiye

Abstract

The article examines the ideological transformation of memory spaces along the Ulus-K & imath;z & imath;lay axis in Ankara, arguing for the importance of analyzing this transformation through both top-down (conceived space) and bottom-up (lived/third space) perspectives. It highlights that most memory studies in T & uuml;rkiye tend to be linear and one-dimensional, and instead proposes a spatial-historical method that traces monuments, squares, and institutions from 1923 to the present. Ultimately, it argues that memory in T & uuml;rkiye is continuously rewritten through ideologically driven spatial productions, that suppressed pasts are recalled in different periods, and that counter-memory practices do more than resist they carry founding potential for new political subjectivities and emancipatory forms of collectivity. Moreover, the dual approach developed through the Ankara case demonstrates that space is constantly rewritten through both top-down interventions by power and grassroots counter-practices. The article concludes that the Turkish case provides an analytical framework for transnational memory debates.