MAKING MEMORIAL PUBLICS: MEDIA, MONUMENTS, AND THE POLITICS OF COMMEMORATION FOLLOWING TURKEY’S JULY 2016 COUP ATTEMPT

Abstract

This paper explores the politics and practices of commemoration in the aftermath of Turkey’s July 15, 2016 coup attempt. Developing a concept of “memorial publics,” this paper examines two distinct but interrelated forms of commemoration: websites that have been set up to tell the story of the resistance to the coup attempt and a new monument that commemorates the victim-heroes of that night’s fighting. I focus on two shared aspects that link the digital and the physical: The use of key terms to frame the coup attempt’s heroes and villains, and the role of website and architectural design in focusing the audience’s attention. I argue that these commemorative projects work together to create a memorial public in which President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s position is both naturalized and justified. This paper’s analysis contributes to geographers’ ongoing interest in the symbolic and material dimensions of cultural and political geographies.