Master Thesis Defense: Derya Özkaya
Commemorative Practices and Narratives of Revolutionary Movements in Turkey:
“Kızıldere” as a Texture of Memory
Derya Özkaya
Cultural Studies, MA Thesis, 2015
Thesis Jury
Sibel Irzık (Thesis Supervisor), Banu Karaca, Füsun Üstel
Date &Time: July,30th 2015 – 11:30
Place: FASS 2023
Abstract
On 30 March, 1972, ten revolutionaries from People's Liberation Party–Front of
Turkey (THKP-C) and People's Liberation Army of Turkey (THKO), who had kidnapped
three technicians hostage from Ünye radar installation in order to prevent the execution of
three leaders of THKO, were murdered in a gunfight in Kızıldere, Tokat. This event has been
accepted as a leitmotif for the collective memory of the revolutionary movements in Turkey
for more than forty years. This thesis analyzes the “memory regime” around this key event
with reference to the experiences and narratives of the victims, the witnesses, and the
revolutionary movements as the “heirs” of the political “legacy” of “Kızıldere”, comparing
with official historical sources. Main data for the research include all kinds of published and
visual materials of various political organizations, memoirs and in-depth interviews conducted
with former and current militants and the witnesses of the period in İstanbul, Ankara, Fatsa
and Kızıldere. I will elaborate primary commemorative practices including history-
telling/writing, publishing and electronic media, commemorative images and slogans, literary
works, the act of (re)naming, anniversaries and commemorative ceremonies. I will also
discuss major commemorative narratives of heroism, iconization, archetypal martyrdom, self-
sacrifice, solidarity and victimhood. I aim to show that these commemorative practices and
narratives are parts of a meaning-making process and open to alterations. I argue that various
meanings and temporalities attributed to “Kızıldere” create several layers of remembering and
the past become a continuing experience in these narratives and practices. All these
commemorative practices and narratives make the intergenerational transmission of collective
memory on “Kızıldere” which strengthen the historical roots and group identities of
revolutionary movements.