The subject of this thesis is House No: 1 in Zenginler District B&uuml / y&uuml / k &Ccedil / ikmaz in Antakya. It is a remarkable example of traditional houses dating back to 19th century in Antakya. The aim of this study is to prepare the restoration project of the building which is far too important for the city with its location, richness of its spatial and architectural elements, interventions have been done and provide to maintain its role in the city by re-functioning it. The thesis includes the detailed description of the present state of the site and the selected building, historical background of Antakya, comparative study and restitution scheme. Finally, the restoration project including the intervention decisions and a proposal for a new function are prepared according to the evaluation of the information gathered throughout the study. There are several steps to prepare the restoration project of a traditional building. The first step is the historical research of both the selected building and the city where it is located. It is important, as it constitutes a background for the study. In the second step of the project, the preparation of the complete graphical and verbal information of the building to the document the present conditions of it. Site survey is the base for this step. After all the information is gathered at the site, they are presented by graphical and verbal ways. Documentation includes the analyses of the building in various aspects like materials, construction technique and deformations. The third step is the comparative study of the building between the same period traditional Antakya houses. These analyses are not only important for the position of the building in Antakya but also form a base for the restitution project. The fourth step restitution consists of evaluation of traces to grasp the alterations done on the original building and thus it can be possible to establish the original scheme of the building. In the last step, the restoration project is prepared. It covers the interventions that should be applied to the building and the proposal for the new function.

Dissertation--Erlangen, 2001. / Bibliogr. p. 247-261.

The main aim of this thesis is to examine the history of Sanjak of Alexandretta in the Turkish nationalist historiography. In this respect, it is important to comprehend how this region as a territory was tried to present as a homeland with ethnic-nationalist connotations and idioms through the discipline of history by Kemalist nationalists in the late of 1930s. Thus, in order to pay attention to the process of annexation of the region into Turkey requires focusing on how and by whom this nationalist history was written in order to gain different perspective. In general, the history of region has been considered on the basis of Turkish-Arab animosity. According to this approach, the history of region is the narration of encountering of these nationalist movements. On the other hand, the question of how this history was shaped by Turkish Kemalist nationalists and to interrogate the impact of the self-determination principle and mandate system on this nationalist history through which myths was created and the historical events were distorted in the process of integration of the region are also vital. Besides, while considering this local history, giving priority to the local narratives can open the path to investigate this nationalist history critically and understand the period of annexation from the view of ordinary people.

Often pointed to as the region’s model secular state, Turkey provides an instructive case study in how nationalism, in the name of conjuring ‘unity’, often produces the opposite effect. Indeed, the production of nationalism can create fractures amongst, as well as politicize, certain segments of a population, such as minority groups and women. This dissertation examines the long-term and present-day impacts on nationalist unity of a largely understudied event, the annexation of the border-city of Antakya from Syria in 1939, and its implications on the Arab Alawite population. In doing so, it deconstructs the dominant Turkish narrative on the annexation, rewrites the narrative drawing on oral history from the ground, and it shows how nation-building is a masculinist project that relies on powerfully gendered language through studying the national archives. The heart of the project, however, remains the investigation of the political, social, and religious subjectivity of Arab Alawite women, with an emphasis on resistance to the structures and practices sustained by the state and patriarchy. The Arab Alawites, once numerically dominant in the Antakya region, are now an ethno-religious minority group within the Turkish/Sunni-dominated state structure. Although Antakya was the last territory to join Turkey in 1939, ever since that time many of its Alawites have resisted assimilation through covert, yet peaceful, methods. Through this research, I show that a multiplicity of forces have increased the politicization of the Antiochian Alawite community and broadened their demands upon the Turkish state. My research highlights Alawite women’s leadership as a key driver of this process, thanks to the large-scale out migration of Alawite men, the increased socio-economic independence of Alawite women, and the perception of more progressive gender ideals being held by the members of this Muslim sect, when compared to those of nearby Sunni Turkish women. This dissertation relies on a postcolonial and feminist geopolitical analysis of the Turkish nationalist project to examine how the Turkish state has historically viewed Antakya and the Arab Alawites and how, in return, the experience and collective social and political memory of Alawites was formed. By utilizing innovative methodologies, this research shows how Alawite women are resisting/rewriting/reconfiguring political and social structures through everyday actions that shift the discourse on minorities and women on local and national scales.