The Memorial Site of Sultan Suleiman in Szigetvár Commemorating His Death in Hungarian-Turkish Cultural and Political Relations Máté KITANICS PhD, MA, MSc, Senior Research Fellow, University of Pécs, Department of Political Geography, Regional and Development Studies E-mail:
[email protected] Norbert PAP habil, DSc, PhD, MA, MSc, Professor of Historical and Political Geography, University of Pécs, Department of Political Geography, Regional and Development Studies E-mail:
[email protected] Geliş Tarihi: 07.10.2019 Kabul Tarihi: 29.11.2019 ABSTRACT KITANICS, Máté, PAP, Norbert, The Memorial Site of Sultan Suleiman in Szigetvár Commemorating His Death in Hungarian-Turkish Cultural and Political Relations, CTAD, Year 15, Issue 30 (Fall 2019), pp. 229-251. In 1994, at the initiative of the Turkish government and with the support of Szigetvár Municipality and the Hungarian government, a Hungarian-Turkish Friendship Park was This study was supported by project number NKFIH K116270 entitled “The political, military and sacral role of Szigetvár and Turbék in the Ottoman-Habsburg rivalry of great powers and the Turkish establishment in Hungary – facts and memory”. 230 Cumhuriyet Tarihi Araştırmaları Dergisi Yıl 15 Sayı 30 (Güz 2019) established in the “Turkish cemetery” at the Sultan Suleiman’s presumed place of death. The park, which was leased to the Turkish state first provided home to a bronze statue of Sultan Suleiman and a memorial türbe. Couple of years later a bronze statue of Miklós Zrínyi, commander of Sziget in 1566 was erected next to the other one. The paper describes the story of the “Turkish cemetery”, the establishment of the Hungarian-Turkish Friendship Park in 1994, its recent developments, and the Hungarian and Turkish remembrance and cultural diplomatic efforts.