Scutari Barracks/Haydarpasa Cemetery

The difference between memory and history lies in the critique. The contrasting characteristics of these two modes of commemoration can be derived from their purpose of existence. Pierre Nora begins his discussion on lieux de memoire with a clear layout of what he believes to be the relative significance of these two concepts. Memory, prey to the destructive and manipulative nature of history, is “a perpetually actual phenomenon, a bond typing us to the eternal present” (Nora 8). History, on the other hand, consolidates, discriminates, and then develops an output that is in accordance with itself. History relies on the creation of a story that follows its previous plot line. History “binds itself strictly to temporal continuities, to progressions and to relations between things” (Nora 9). In application, the divide between these two forms of remembrance can widen. Istanbul’s Scutari Barracks, by way of being a factor of war, are a crux of controversy. The contrast between history and memory spells itself out not only at this location, but at its complement – the Haydarpaşa Cemetery. In some ways, these adjacent sites could be seen as being in dialogue with one another, and we will see how this dialogue might manifest itself through further analysis.