Local Histories of the National Struggle Project

The project "Local Histories of the National Struggle" aims to enrich Türkiye’s memory of the National Struggle by starting from where it began. The project aims to respond to the need to rewrite the historiography of the National Struggle in a democratic, participatory, polyphonic and polycentric manner, and to take the first steps of a paradigm shift by expanding time, spreading space and multiplying subjects. Within the framework of this work, methods of writing history from the bottom up will be applied, and a history and memory will be created in which everyone can contribute, in which the democratic, civic and participatory possibilities of national and local history are utilized, and in which people can feel themselves as a part.

The project aims to recall Türkiye’s memory of the National Struggle by focusing on seven regions and their cities. Based on the assumption that history serves the same function for societies as memory does for individuals, a memory of the National Struggle based on the collective memory of Turkish society will be created city by city. It will be revealed that the history of a nation does not only consist of the thoughts and actions of elites, but is a history that all social elements and layers live and remember together. A comprehensive evaluation of the period of the National Struggle will be made from regional geopolitics to occupations, from local resistance activities to public order problems, from local press to economic life.

As a result of the project carried out in partnership with the Turkish Academy of Sciences and Fatih Sultan Mehmet Foundation University, a series of volumes will be published under the title "Local Histories of the National Struggle".

The first workshop of the project was launched on June 7-8, 2021 with the title "Local Perspectives on the National Struggle" and the road map of the project was determined. A total of 34 scientists from 22 different universities and 3 museums attended the workshop and the final report was published.

"Local Perspectives on the National Struggle Symposium" hosted by Gaziantep Metropolitan Municipality and Gaziantep University was held at Panorama 25 December Museum between October 22-24, 2021. 29 different universities, institutions and independent researchers participated in the two-day scientific program with more than 40 scientists.

In the Third Symposium and Workshop titled "Black Sea in the National Struggle" held on June 2-26, 2022, 35 scientists from 24 universities hosted by Hitit University examined local history.

In the symposium held at Ege University between October 28 and October 30, 2022 under the title "Western Anatolia and İzmir Symposium in the National Struggle", the national struggle was examined in Western Anatolia and İzmir. Academics from different universities presented their papers in a wide framework from the occupation of Izmir to the situation of other Western Anatolian cities during the occupation days, from the language of documents to the portraits that played a role in the national struggle, to the Great Offensive and what happened afterwards.

With the Local Histories of the National Struggle Project, which is scheduled to be completed in 2023, the 100th anniversary of our Republic, the years of the National Struggle will be evaluated with a participatory, inclusive, multidimensional and interdisciplinary method that brings a new perspective and is planned to be published in series.