Abstract:

Before modernity, even before the initial stages of modernity, many unexamined event, later, within the framework of a need and with Hobsbawm’s term, will be remembered “again” as the form of “the invention of tradition” by states and social groups. Nowadays, events of the conquest of Istanbul which are celebrated every year and regarded as one of the official ceremonies, like many precedent events, emerged in modern era, and with this aspect, those events should be considered as a typical “the invention of tradition”. Let us say right away that about this topic, the first state-funded celebration took place after Balkan Wars and before the World War I in 1914. This article, based on the newspapers of the time, will attempt to find an answer to the questions of why such a celebration was needed after Balkan Wars, how the celebrations took place, which rhetoric came to the fore during celebrations and how long they were celebrated.

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