Photorealism, Nationalism in Turkey through Sculpture
Monumentalization of Photograph
"Most photographs of Lenin were well known: Only a few dozen were taken during his lifetime, and they were published frequently and ultimately catalogued. What’s created in a work like Shadr’s monument is a relay—between artwork and photo-document. One can say that it borrows the photograph’s reality effect to create a kind of “truthiness.” At least that’s what I argued in first discussing these images.8 But the fact that these photographs were known, published, and circulated also allows the discrepancy—the gap—to be seen, to be exposed as a lie. Here’s the rub: It doesn’t seem to matter. Sight is replaced with belief, then rendered as image."
(Dickerman, 2018)
Bulamadık: https://read.dukeupress.edu/mediterranean-quarterly/article-abstract/29/3/11/135356/The-AKP-s-Yeni-Turkiye-Challenging-the-Kemalist
ANALYSING NATIONALISM(S) IN TURKEY THROUGH SCULPTURE: AN ETHNO-SYMBOLIST APPROACH (G. Pınar ERKEM GÜLBOY,2017)
"Representation of a nation occurs through language and symbols (Smith, 2013: 15). Symbols have two functions; differencing the self and the other and meanwhile creating the self (Smith, 1998: 182). The nation is “made real”, “tangible and accessible to all” by the symbolic creation of abstract concepts like nation and national identity (Smith, 2013:171)."
Ernest Renan Subjective Nationalism (atatürk): http://www.anayasa.gen.tr/ataturkmilliyetciligi.htm
"Although not sharing ethno-nationalist perspective but following a modernist approach towards
nationalism, Eric Hobsbawm and Terrence Ranger also mention the importance of sculpture.": milliyetçiliğe etnik ve modern bakış açıları mı var?
"Statues recall the ‘watershed events, dramatic incidents or symbolic crises’ and turn them into semi-sacred happenings, ‘creating a point of grand force, respect, and historical connotation’ (Smith, 2002: 241)."
"Sometimes sculptures can be a battleground for different segments of the same nation if there is a division among these segments regarding the definition of nationalism. Moreover, they can serve as a tool for the group that holds the power, to disseminate their nationalism perspective as the dominant one, which will in turn create conflict and that conflict can be traced through the sculptures."
"Usage of symbols for creating a national identity in a segmented society with competitive versions of nationalism, results in creating otherness among the society itself. In this manner, symbols function not only against an external other, but also against an internal other for the sake of creating a particular version of nationalist identity."
"That was the reason behind Ottoman sultans not having figurative sculpture until Abdulaziz, who got himself a bust and a monument done in 1871, after a visit to Europe (Tekiner, 2014: 35). Public appearance of figurative sculptures could only become widespread after the establishment of the Republic, and that was in the form of Ataturk statues."
"When we consider the political context of the post-World War One era in these countries, the rise of ultra-nationalism, fascism and nazizm in the 1930s, the artistic reflection of these ideologies to the sculptures were significant. The figures were muscular, emotionless, masculine, strong men, representing the Roman past, warriors and strong states. As the sculptors were mostly from these cultures, the first statues in Turkey were created in coherence with this ideological and artistic trend (Demir, 2017: 34)."
"Sculpture in the public space functions as a political tool to draw borderlines and put notes to the social memory (Ergin, 2010: 60)."
"As Smith mentions (Smith, 2013: 57), Turkey is one of the nation states that gives considerable
emphasis on national symbols, particularly martyrdom, as nationalism in Turkey functions as a substitute to religion; intensely emotional and sacred."
Atatürk Monuments:
"image of Ataturk has been the most implemented sculpture throughout the history of modern Turkey beginning from 1926, with Heinrich Krippel’s Ataturk monument in Sarayburnu, Istanbul (Uzun Aydin, 2016: 229). His image has been and is the symbol of modernity, secularism and republicanism. Sculptures of him aimed to immortalise the republic, its reforms and adoption of its ideology (Uzun Aydin, 2016: 227)."
"The Ataturk image in the sculptures carried different symbolic meanings in the first period of the
republic and after the 1980s."
"The very muscular ‘Ataturk beating the enemy’ sculpture in Afyon, Victory Monument, made by Heinrich Krippel in 1936 is very illustrative in this strong image. His strong figure in monuments represented the strong determined leader that would transform the old society into a new, strong nation which would be a proud and equal part of the modern world."
"The real change in the implementation of Ataturk monuments occurred with the 1980 military coup"
"Ataturk statues became senseless ideological visualisations. A change of meaning of the image has occurred; it began to be equated with the state and military."
"Ataturk statues have been target of protests for a long time, and for that reason, “a law regarding the crimes against Ataturk” was issued in 1951. In post 1980 period, the state policies, particularly military operations in the Kurdish regions, were protested by destroying Ataturk statues."
Kurdish Monuments and Attacks:
"When the state authorities, with a law order, overthrown the statue of a Kurdish militant in Diyarbakir, the Ataturk statue in the high school garden was burned in response. The video of burning and kicking the Ataturk head was put online and the mob made a statement that ‘our aim is not the statues but we did this for revenge of a loss in Lice (a town in Diyarbakir)’ (ensonhaber.com"
+benden örnekler
- Lamassu statues
- Roboski monument
+benden örnekler
Gülboy (2017) analyses the destruction of Kurdish monuments together with civil attacks on Atatürk statues (because of military operations in the Kurdish regions after 1980 coup d'etat) under the subtitle "Contestation from Minority Segments". However Kurdish citizens of Turkey cannot be determined as minority in a legal sense according to the Lausanne Treatise.
Islamist Monuments and Attacks:
"In another case, a sculpture showing Ataturk holding the hand of a student girl was destructed in the period of head-scarf discussions in the political scene in 2008 (Hurriyet). During another head-scarf usage in the public life discussion three years later, a statue was destroyed by a man with an axe (Gazete Vatan, 2013). In another case, in 2016, a golden coloured Ataturk statue was painted to black in a school yard, and under the sculpture it was written‘foreign, idol’ in a pejorative manner, and ‘long live Islam’ (Insan Haber, 2016).
As the new golden age myth prefers the Ottoman glorious past rather than war of independence
period of Ataturk legacy, the sculptures of the last ten years have used the symbols from the Ottoman past, or simply local symbols like gigantic flowers, oranges, or tea-cups (Yasa Yaman, 2011: 78)"
- Fatih Sultan Mehmet
- Tea glass
+benden örnekler
"After an attempted and failed military intervention in July 15th, the name of the main square has changed from Republic Square to July 15th Democracy and Republic Square. The public resistance against the failed intervention has been glorified by the authorities and the day was declared a public holiday, the people who have lost their lives declared democracy martyrs, and it became a sacred symbol of the new nationalism. As a result of this symbolic importance, the removal of Ataturk statue could be legitimised (Al Jazeera Turkiye, 2016; Cumhuriyet 2016)."
"Ethno-symbolist perspective in nationalism studies claim that symbols are functional in
strengthening the national identity through creating the self and differencing the self and the other."
"Most photographs of Lenin were well known: Only a few dozen were taken during his lifetime, and they were published frequently and ultimately catalogued. What’s created in a work like Shadr’s monument is a relay—between artwork and photo-document. One can say that it borrows the photograph’s reality effect to create a kind of “truthiness.” At least that’s what I argued in first discussing these images.8 But the fact that these photographs were known, published, and circulated also allows the discrepancy—the gap—to be seen, to be exposed as a lie. Here’s the rub: It doesn’t seem to matter. Sight is replaced with belief, then rendered as image."
(Dickerman, 2018)
Bulamadık...Public monuments in Kemalist and Post-Kemalist-Turkey (Klaus Kreiser)
https://opus4.kobv.de/opus4-bamberg/frontdoor/index/index/docId/13203#?Bulamadık: https://read.dukeupress.edu/mediterranean-quarterly/article-abstract/29/3/11/135356/The-AKP-s-Yeni-Turkiye-Challenging-the-Kemalist
ANALYSING NATIONALISM(S) IN TURKEY THROUGH SCULPTURE: AN ETHNO-SYMBOLIST APPROACH (G. Pınar ERKEM GÜLBOY,2017)
"Representation of a nation occurs through language and symbols (Smith, 2013: 15). Symbols have two functions; differencing the self and the other and meanwhile creating the self (Smith, 1998: 182). The nation is “made real”, “tangible and accessible to all” by the symbolic creation of abstract concepts like nation and national identity (Smith, 2013:171)."
Ernest Renan Subjective Nationalism (atatürk): http://www.anayasa.gen.tr/ataturkmilliyetciligi.htm
"Although not sharing ethno-nationalist perspective but following a modernist approach towards
nationalism, Eric Hobsbawm and Terrence Ranger also mention the importance of sculpture.": milliyetçiliğe etnik ve modern bakış açıları mı var?
"Statues recall the ‘watershed events, dramatic incidents or symbolic crises’ and turn them into semi-sacred happenings, ‘creating a point of grand force, respect, and historical connotation’ (Smith, 2002: 241)."
"Sometimes sculptures can be a battleground for different segments of the same nation if there is a division among these segments regarding the definition of nationalism. Moreover, they can serve as a tool for the group that holds the power, to disseminate their nationalism perspective as the dominant one, which will in turn create conflict and that conflict can be traced through the sculptures."
"Usage of symbols for creating a national identity in a segmented society with competitive versions of nationalism, results in creating otherness among the society itself. In this manner, symbols function not only against an external other, but also against an internal other for the sake of creating a particular version of nationalist identity."
"That was the reason behind Ottoman sultans not having figurative sculpture until Abdulaziz, who got himself a bust and a monument done in 1871, after a visit to Europe (Tekiner, 2014: 35). Public appearance of figurative sculptures could only become widespread after the establishment of the Republic, and that was in the form of Ataturk statues."
"When we consider the political context of the post-World War One era in these countries, the rise of ultra-nationalism, fascism and nazizm in the 1930s, the artistic reflection of these ideologies to the sculptures were significant. The figures were muscular, emotionless, masculine, strong men, representing the Roman past, warriors and strong states. As the sculptors were mostly from these cultures, the first statues in Turkey were created in coherence with this ideological and artistic trend (Demir, 2017: 34)."
"Sculpture in the public space functions as a political tool to draw borderlines and put notes to the social memory (Ergin, 2010: 60)."
"As Smith mentions (Smith, 2013: 57), Turkey is one of the nation states that gives considerable
emphasis on national symbols, particularly martyrdom, as nationalism in Turkey functions as a substitute to religion; intensely emotional and sacred."
Atatürk Monuments:
"image of Ataturk has been the most implemented sculpture throughout the history of modern Turkey beginning from 1926, with Heinrich Krippel’s Ataturk monument in Sarayburnu, Istanbul (Uzun Aydin, 2016: 229). His image has been and is the symbol of modernity, secularism and republicanism. Sculptures of him aimed to immortalise the republic, its reforms and adoption of its ideology (Uzun Aydin, 2016: 227)."
"The Ataturk image in the sculptures carried different symbolic meanings in the first period of the
republic and after the 1980s."
"The very muscular ‘Ataturk beating the enemy’ sculpture in Afyon, Victory Monument, made by Heinrich Krippel in 1936 is very illustrative in this strong image. His strong figure in monuments represented the strong determined leader that would transform the old society into a new, strong nation which would be a proud and equal part of the modern world."
"The real change in the implementation of Ataturk monuments occurred with the 1980 military coup"
"Ataturk statues became senseless ideological visualisations. A change of meaning of the image has occurred; it began to be equated with the state and military."
"Ataturk statues have been target of protests for a long time, and for that reason, “a law regarding the crimes against Ataturk” was issued in 1951. In post 1980 period, the state policies, particularly military operations in the Kurdish regions, were protested by destroying Ataturk statues."
Kurdish Monuments and Attacks:
"When the state authorities, with a law order, overthrown the statue of a Kurdish militant in Diyarbakir, the Ataturk statue in the high school garden was burned in response. The video of burning and kicking the Ataturk head was put online and the mob made a statement that ‘our aim is not the statues but we did this for revenge of a loss in Lice (a town in Diyarbakir)’ (ensonhaber.com"
+benden örnekler
- Lamassu statues
- Roboski monument
+benden örnekler
Gülboy (2017) analyses the destruction of Kurdish monuments together with civil attacks on Atatürk statues (because of military operations in the Kurdish regions after 1980 coup d'etat) under the subtitle "Contestation from Minority Segments". However Kurdish citizens of Turkey cannot be determined as minority in a legal sense according to the Lausanne Treatise.
Islamist Monuments and Attacks:
"In another case, a sculpture showing Ataturk holding the hand of a student girl was destructed in the period of head-scarf discussions in the political scene in 2008 (Hurriyet). During another head-scarf usage in the public life discussion three years later, a statue was destroyed by a man with an axe (Gazete Vatan, 2013). In another case, in 2016, a golden coloured Ataturk statue was painted to black in a school yard, and under the sculpture it was written‘foreign, idol’ in a pejorative manner, and ‘long live Islam’ (Insan Haber, 2016).
As the new golden age myth prefers the Ottoman glorious past rather than war of independence
period of Ataturk legacy, the sculptures of the last ten years have used the symbols from the Ottoman past, or simply local symbols like gigantic flowers, oranges, or tea-cups (Yasa Yaman, 2011: 78)"
- Fatih Sultan Mehmet
- Tea glass
+benden örnekler
"After an attempted and failed military intervention in July 15th, the name of the main square has changed from Republic Square to July 15th Democracy and Republic Square. The public resistance against the failed intervention has been glorified by the authorities and the day was declared a public holiday, the people who have lost their lives declared democracy martyrs, and it became a sacred symbol of the new nationalism. As a result of this symbolic importance, the removal of Ataturk statue could be legitimised (Al Jazeera Turkiye, 2016; Cumhuriyet 2016)."
"Ethno-symbolist perspective in nationalism studies claim that symbols are functional in
strengthening the national identity through creating the self and differencing the self and the other."
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