Remembering the 1980 Turkish Military Coup d‘État (eBook)

Elifcan Karacan has studied gender studies and sociology at Middle East Technical University in Turkey. She defended her PhD thesis in sociology at Siegen University, Germany. Recently, she is doing her post-doc research on socio-political background of the concept of “Almanci” (Germanlike) at Bremen University, Intercultural Education Department.  

Acknowledgements 6
Table of Contents 8
Abbreviations 11
1. Introduction 14
1.1 Background to the problem 15
1.2 Research design and the research questions 18
Research Questions 20
1.3 Structure of the study 21
2. Theories of memory 24
2. 1 Memory in oral traditions 24
2. 2 Institutionalization of the past 26
2. 3 Socially constructed memory 29
2.3. 1 Memory – from individual to collective 30
2.3. 2 The presentist aspect of collective memory 33
2.3. 3 Social frameworks of collective memory as ideology 35
2.4 Cultural memory and communicative memory 38
2. 5 Memories in practice 40
2. 6 Modernity and forgetting 42
2. 7 Trauma theories of memory 45
2. 8 Postmemory: transmission of memory from generation to generation 47
3. Methodology 52
3. 1 Participant observation 52
3. 1. 1 Entering the field 53
3. 1. 2 Field research in practice 54
3. 1. 3 Secondary sources 55
3. 1. 4 Expert interviews 56
3. 1. 5 Interpretation of the data gathered 57
3. 2 Doing biographical research 58
3. 2. 1 Sampling 59
3.2. 2 Building trust 60
3. 2. 3 Conducting biographical narrative interviews 61
3. 2. 4 Analysis of the biographical narrative interviews: the biographical case reconstruction method 66
4. Historical background 72
4. 1 Turkey's first experiences with coups d'état: 27 May 1960 and 12 March 1971 72
4. 2 Twilight times: 1970s – towards the coup 74
4. 2. 1 Political and economic instabilities: 74
4. 2. 2 Trade unions and the labour movement 75
4. 2. 3 Brutal violence and Alevi massacres 77
4. 3 The military take another turn: September the 12th Coup 78
4. 3. 1 Reconstructing education: institute of higher education 79
4. 3. 2 The silence of fear: oppression of trade unions and media 79
4. 3. 3 Neo-liberal transformation of the economy 81
4. 4 The revolutionary movement before September 83
4. 4. 1 Origins of the revolutionary movement 83
4. 4. 2 THKP/C: Türkiye Halk Kurtulus Parti-Cephesi (People's Liberation Party-Front of Turkey) 87
4. 4. 3 Türkiye Halk Kurtulus Ordusu (People's Liberation Army of Turkey):THKO 89
4. 4. 4 TKP/ML: Türkiye Komünist Partisi/Marksist Leninist (Communist Party of Turkey/Marxist Leninist) 91
5. Memory in practice 93
5. 1 The production of the memory places 93
5. 1. 1 The spatial framework of memory 94
5. 1. 2 Ulucanlar Prison Museum 96
5. 1. 3 12 September Shame Museum 98
5. 1. 4 Production of memory places 99
5. 1. 5 Destruction of authenticity and the beautification of brutal violence 100
5. 1. 6 Reconstruction of an oppressed past and the problem of selectivity 106
5. 1. 7 Discourses of victimization and efforts to prove an injustice 109
5. 2 Commemorative ceremonies, symbols and myths 110
5. 2. 1 Heroization and victimization 113
5. 2. 2 Sacralization myths and symbols of the 12 September
5. 2. 3 Exclusion and inclusion 122
6. Types and concepts of remembering 12 September 130
6. 1 Remembering 12 September 130
6. 1. 1 Historical continuity: the spirit of the ’68 generation 131
6. 1. 2 Resistance 134
6. 1. 3 Perpetrators 136
6. 1. 4 Narrating 12 September 146
6. 2 Concepts in remembering the 12 September 150
6. 2. 1 The frozen memory of the exile 150
6. 2. 2 Memory of the isolated self 154
6. 2. 3 Wounded memory 159
6. 2. 4 Reflective memory 169
7. Conclusion: longing for the future in search of lost times 181
Annexes 187
References 191