Public place names and the ideological construction of the space: The case of the city of Ankara (1923-2020)

The subject of this study is the public place names in the city of Ankara. The term "public place names" refers to the names of streets, boulevards, squares, parks, and high schools in the city of Ankara. The aim of this study is to examine the ideological transformations that have occurred in the public place names in Ankara due to changes in political power in Turkish political history. This study covers the entire period from 1923 to 2020. Both the naming of streets, boulevards, squares, and parks by the local government and the naming of high schools by the central government are examined in three periods and compared with each other within each period. In order to understand the relationship between power, naming, ideology, national/ethnic identity, and collective memory, what does "naming" mean? Who does the naming? What is the relationship between the name and the named place? While changes and renaming in the urban space are related to national identity debates, what is the relationship of these changes to collective memory? Are there broader political meanings and contents? What groups or ideologies are involved in the struggle over public place names? These questions are discussed in conjunction with the data obtained. The data obtained has been subjected to a semiotic analysis based on a critical toponymy approach. This study has three main findings. The first finding is that the naming practices between 1923 and 1949 are based on the Turkish History Thesis. The second finding is that the namings between 1950 and 2003 reflect the Turkish-Islamic Synthesis. The third finding is that the naming practices between 2004 and 2020 work to materialize the New Ottomanism ideology in the urban space.