Hagia Sophia and National Memory Wars in the Republican Period

Assoc. Prof. Umut AZAK, Istanbul Okan University

In this study, the multiparty transition to democracy in Turkey from the conservative, nationalist and Islamist streams of the conversion process will be examined through the political icon of the Hagia Sophia Mosque which was converted into a museum in 1934. Gathering in an Ottomanism discourse that glorifies the legacy of the empire rather than the gains of the Republic, these movements carried out their struggle against Kemalist and secular nationalism by reinterpreting historical places and figures and flagging them as a source of national pride. An important aspect of this “battle of memory” was the “Hagia Sophia campaign”, which demanded the Museum to be reopened to worship and ended in July 2020. The study will trace this campaign that aims to reshape the national memory through the symbol of Hagia Sophia by focusing on the magazines and newspapers of the 1950s and 1960s.