Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
Routledge, London/New York , London, 2025
This book explores the contemporary memory of the Ottoman conquest of
Constantinople (now Istanbul) in 1453. It focuses on how the conquest is
remembered by Islamist- nationalist imagination in Turkey today and how architecture
plays a role in shaping this memory, underscoring its susceptibility to political
manipulation.
Discussing Islamist- nationalist rhetoric of Istanbul’s conquest through the conceptual
framework of melancholy— a significant theme in the history of ideas— the
argument posits that this narrative is a politically driven endeavor fueled by paranoia,
producing melancholy over the conquest of Istanbul. This book redefines
melancholy as ‘a politically manipulated project’, which anchors the imagery of
conquest to spatial and architectural symbols of mourning while creating imaginary
lost objects. Architecture becomes the book’s subject as the bearer of clues to
searching for lost objects and as a spatial- political tool of conquest rhetoric, such
as the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul and the Panorama 1453 History Museum. As
various groups with differing ideologies and identities continue to feel the impact
of the conquest, this book also examines the ‘other’ side of the event— specifically,
how the Greeks commemorate the fall of Constantinople, recognizing it as a dark
memory from their perspective.
This book targets diverse audiences in cultural studies, social sciences, arts, and
humanities— including architecture, history, anthropology, and political studies—
interested in Southeast Europe and Islamic societies.