The effect of Antep defence on the settlement names in Gaziantep and Geographic Information System-based spatial analysis of this effect

Naming a person has an important place among the Turks’ old traditions. As mentioned in the Turkish epics and legends, the young would not be accepted as the member of the clan until they showed acts of heroism and also they would not be called by other names except for their given name by their fathers. Because 6317 people were martyred and they showed resistance to the French for nearly a year under difficult conditions during the defence of Antep, the city was given the title “Ghazi” by The Grand National Assembly of Turkey on 6, February, 1921 and thus the citizens of Antep were honoured, which shows similarity to the mentioned traditions of naming. Considering today’s conditions, bringing holiness to the place with the honorary title for war veterans (Ghazi) and honouring the public were realized for the purpose of establishing a nation and nation-state. However, it is not correct to perceive this change experienced with the settlement names during the re-establishment of the nation as a condition unique to the Turks and Turkic countries. The nations that have gained their independence or have been fighting for their independence usually apply similar practices and they make an effort to adjust the names of the places and settlements suitable to themselves to show that they dominate the region. This study which discusses the effects of the Antep Defence on the settlement names and the reflections of this effect on the space via benefiting from Geographical Information System tried to analyse the relationship between the settlement names-events-space. Acquiring new approaches for the research studies carried out about the space via geographical information systems, the scarcity of the number of the studies carried out by the geographers despite the increasing number of the research studies carried out about the settlement names in recent years and the strong influence of the Antep Defence on the settlement names constitute the rationales for the research to be carried out. The fact that the effect of the Antep Defence on the names of the city and the two central districts, nearly 3% of the neighbourhoods of the city and 0,25% of the total number of the streets constitute the concrete evidence of this strong influence