Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
METU JOURNAL OF THE FACULTY OF ARCHITECTURE = ODTÜ MIMARLIK FAKÜLTESI DERGIS, cilt.20261, sa.43/1, ss.131-154, 2026 (AHCI)
IDEOLOGICAL-AESTHETIC CONSTRUCTION: THE SARAYBURNU
ATATÜRK MONUMENT
As a revolutionary ideological movement, the Turkish modernisation
project is a sign of radical change, identified with contemporary,
modern, civilised and independent images. The Republican government
uses architecture and art to promote its ideology and mark cities with
Republican iconography. In this framework, the rulers of the Republic
need monuments to anchor and secure their ideological meaning and
representation in space. The Revolutionary discourse uses the image of
Atatürk to produce a secular and modern society. This image makes it
possible for every member of society to imagine themselves as part of
the Turkish nation and to identify with the symbol. Monumental spaces
are places where memory is fixed, where time stands still and where
immortality, which prevents the act of forgetting, is embodied. The
imperial capital Istanbul, surrounded by representations of the Ottoman
Empire and Islam, has a leading role in the competition for loyalty to the
regime. Sarayburnu, the socio-cultural and political centre of the Ottoman
Empire, is the first link in the chain of meaning of the revolutionary and
symbolic monumental movement marked by republican iconography.
The Sarayburnu Atatürk Monument is the first symbol that the republican
regime placed at the heart of the Ottoman capital. This symbolic monument
organises secular public space and shapes the city’s monumental and spatial practices, which were incorporated into national urban planning
after the 1930s.
This study addresses a gap in the literature by examining the Sarayburnu
Atatürk Monument, which is approaching one hundred years since
its construction, within a spatial and ideological context. The article
aims to fill this gap in the literature. In this study, the Sarayburnu
Atatürk Monument is analyzed with a focus on spatial-ideological and
iconographic interpretation. The theoretical background of the study
discusses the relationship between secular ideological discourse and
public space-Atatürk monuments. The study argues that the Sarayburnu
Atatürk Monument played a pioneering role in the articulation of Istanbul
into the national imaginary. The monument is valuable as the first urban
intervention of the regime in Istanbul and has a powerful story to tell about
the nation-state building process.