Saved in:
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Recurso digital |
| Language: | |
| Published: |
Zenodo
2018
|
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18841424 |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
Table of Contents:
- <p>This essay uses the Atatürk Cultural Center (AKM) in Istanbul's Taksim Square as a lens through which to examine Turkey's shifting political landscape. The author traces how the building's facade — a prominent public surface at the heart of the city — became a site of successive political appropriation: first as a symbol of Kemalist secular modernity, then as a canvas for the diverse, pluralist imagery of the 2013 Gezi Park protests, and finally as a vehicle for pro-Erdoğan religious nationalist messaging following the 2016 coup attempt. The demolition of the AKM in 2018 is read not merely as an architectural loss, but as a deliberate erasure of a secular republican legacy and a consolidation of a new political cult built around Erdoğan's persona. The article argues that the successive "facades" displayed on the building mirror the deeper ideological contests — between secularism and religious nationalism, between grassroots pluralism and authoritarian populism — that have defined contemporary Turkish politics.</p>