Introduction to Istiklal

Istiklal Avenue is a commercial street, centrally located in the Pera neighbourhood of Beyoğlu district. This neighbourhood has a rich cultural history, as “the historic multi-religious and multi-lingual district, which was the first to be westernized in the city of Istanbul in the nineteenth century” (Sasanlar, 2). Today it is a popular shopping destination among tourists and locals.

The evolution of Istiklal Avenue throughout the last two centuries reflects the cultural identity embraced by the Turkish state. Initially a pocket of Western influence in the 1800s, this street became an icon of Turkish independence and alignment with its western identity, then the site of a destructive act of nationalism during the 1955 Anti-Greek Pogrom. In the 1980s, this street was restored and again transformed into a representation of Istanbul’s western outlook. Finally, a suicide bombing occurred on the street in March 2016, highlighting the divide between Turkey and the cultures to its east. The time stamps in this exhibit illustrate how Istiklal is a site where Turkey has claimed and rejected different elements of its rich cultural identity over time.

Nora identifies how lieux de mémoire are material, symbolic, and functional. Through the occurrences highlighted in this passage, this avenue has certainly been endowed with these three significances as a lieu.  It is a material site: a street, with buildings, transportations, and a view and location relative to the rest of Istanbul. It is a consistently a site symbolic of Istanbul’s complex cultural identity, deliberately named, with historic significance, unique demographic at certain parts of history. And finally, it is a functional place, today a tourist destination lined by countless embassies and shops that have come and gone throughout time.