What does urban space aftermath of a massacre mean? How can we remember the victims of the massacre? This paper deals with a current problem by sweeping us back to 10.04 am. on 10 October 2015 when two bombed terrorist attacks by ISIS happened in Ankara Gar square. At that moment, thousands of left-wing people gathered for the march with a call of labor, peace, and democracy. Unfortunately, 103 of the comrades died, and hundreds of people were injured there. This article exposes this traumatic event and elaborates the process after that, underlying how and why the struggle for memory is crucial. In this context, it first critically argues the political background of the ISIS attacks in Turkey, the role of political authority in this process, and the state interventions that restrain commemoration events, respectively, deepening society’s trauma. After a brief overview of the process, it centers upon all the endeavors for the right to memory. Furtherly and pointedly, it draws out how to approach such a traumatic urban space and how this space can be reproduced through. On this ground, this paper opens up an argument whether an urban design project is a response or a way or not to reproduce space and heal the traumas of victims’ relatives and of society. In this context, this paper examines the urban design project competition, entitled “International Ideas And Design Project Competition For Labor, Peace and Democracy Memorial Square” held in 2020, which has been turned into a new medium of struggle. This article investigates the specificity of this case as a political counter-attempt, posits it as a means to strengthen the struggles for the right to memory throughout portraying a form and process for reorganizing the space.
Mots clés : the right to memory|trauma|space of massacre|a struggle for commemoration|10 October
A104725DK