The Practices of Renaming after the Failed Coup Attempt in 2016 in Turkey

Abstract

After the failed coup attempt in 2016 in Istanbul, the Bosphorus Bridge was renamed, becoming “Bridge of the Martyrs of 15 July”. What followed was the widespread renaming of squares, streets, cultural spaces, schools, etc. across the country. I argue that the consolation of power brought about by redesignating the public as either ‘terrorist’ or ‘martyr, was finally expressed materially and geographically by renaming public space. For example, the act of renaming Istanbul’s first bridge, built in 1973, to the “15 July Martyrs Bridge” transformed the bridge into a site of national remembrance. For Timmur Hammond (2020), the act of renaming the bridge functions as “both an indexical memorial of the fighting that took place there and a symbolic appropriation of one of the country’s most visible landmarks” (546). This paper aims to examine the function and use of the national representations and production of places of memory by examining the politics and practices of renaming in the aftermath of Turkey’s July 15, 2016 coup attempt. To do so, I will examine these renaming practices in order to argue that these commemorative projects became tools in the creation of a new national identity in Turkey.