ABSTRACT
By investigating past and present Victory Day ceremonies, the chief purpose of this chapter is to illustrate how both the state and the public imagine and re-enact the Battle of Dumlupinar each year. In 1924, high-ranking state officials of the young Turkish Republic attended the first-ever commemorative ceremony held in the area of the Battle of Dumlupinar. Changing patterns in the way that ceremonies have been held have defined the course of those that have followed over the past years. All local interviewees viewed the Youth Centres’ participation as a positive and constructive act on the part of the government. Entertainment has always been an integral element of the 30 August holidays for the local community. The political rhetoric about the Battle of Dumlupinar is shifting as much as the ceremony itself. Politicians and states people have been linking the Great Offensive with events that have taken place since 1924.
