1923 Renaming Marks the Start of Atatürk's Westernization

In 1923, the avenue was renamed İstiklal (meaning independence) to commemorate the War of Independence and the establishment of the Turkish Republic, during a moment when the Turkish state actively sought to highlight its western identity.  

Subsequent to the decline of the Ottoman Empire, the war was fought between the Turkish state and the Western allies, namely Greece, Armenia, the UK, France, Italy. On 29 October, 1923, Turkey was officially recognised as independent. In the aftermath of this war, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk became President of the Turkish Republic, and instituted reforms to convert Turkey into a secular, modern nation-state aligned with Western ideals (BBC 2016).

Though Ankara replaced Istanbul as the capital in October 1923, indepdnence was deliberately commemorated in Istanbul as well, with the Government renaming Cadde-i Kebir as İstiklal Caddesi (İstiklal means independence). In this way, the street became an icon of Turkish nationalism, a tool by which the nation aligned its cultural identity with the western world.

Out of the time stamps in this exhibition, this was the most deliberate act of commemoration and harkens back to Nora’s understanding of how memory is seized by history:

“Modern memory is, above all, archival. It relies entirely on the materiality of the trace, the immediacy of the recording, the visibility of the image…Fear of a rapid and final disappearance combines with anxiety about the meaning of the present and uncertainty about the future to give even the most humble testimony, the most modest vestige, the potential dignity of the memorable…” (Nora, 13).