ABSTRACT
Monuments, cemeteries and museums were erected across Afyon and Kutahya provinces. Placed on hills and in town centres, these landmarks have acquired a variety of meanings over the past 100 years and have become the face of the Great Offensive for visitors. Since 1924, governments and local municipalities have been proposing and realising projects to recreate the sites of the Great Offensive. The new republican and nationalist regime sought to legitimise its social and political reforms with references to Turkish willpower and sacrifice during the War of Independence. Photographs and descriptions of the monument from 1930s’ newspapers reveal that some alterations have been made to it. The area of the Great Offensive was designated as a key stage for the memorialisation of the War of Independence by Mustafa Kemal in 1924, and it continues to be politically significant for the Turkish Republic.
