Examination of the military coup of 12 September 1980 through memory places

Human is a social being by nature, and human memory is formed within the social context. Maurice Halbwachs defines the formation of human memory within the social framework as collective memory. Events that concern the general public were embedded in the collective memory in certain contexts and the social environment directly affects the collective memory. The construction and transfer of collective memory in the social framework occurs through memory places. In this study, it was examined how the September 12 military coup took place in the collective memory. How the society remembers and forgot September 12 and its position in the collective memory were investigated in terms of memory places. First of all, the media, which is a memory places, were examined. At this stage, it was focused on how the memory of September 12 is constructed and conveyed in both mainstream newspapers and Twitter. The 12 September narrative of the Cumhuriyet and Ortadoğu newspapers and the content shared on Twitter with the #12Eylül hashtag were analyzed by content analysis method. It was determined that the newspapers reconstructed the memory of September 12 in accordance with their ideological positions. On the other hand, different collective memories are built and transmitted together on Twitter. In addition, interviews were conducted with both people who experienced through the September 12 period and individuals from the Z generation. In the interviews, the participants' memory of 12 September and effect of memory places on this was investigated. In the memory of people who lived through the September 12 period, September 12 is a process that is both based on their own memories and shaped by being influenced by memory places. September 12, in the memory of individuals from the Z generation, was formed entirely by the impact of memory spaces.It has been concluded that social media is the most influential memory place in the formation of the September 12 collective memory of individuals from the Z generation.