Güvenlik Anıtı (Security Monument)

During the interwar period, the Turkish ruling elite had a complicated and evolving relationship with fascist ideologies, particularly Italian Fascism. When liberal democratic concepts and responses to urgent issues had lost credibility worldwide, the formulations of Kemalism and its six constitutional principles as the country's foundational ideology were inevitably influenced by the examples set by major nations.

The cults of personality created around both Atatürk and İnönü, as well as the corporatist tone of the official discourse, bore more resemblance to Italian fascism than Nazism. The latter had minimal influence on Turkey, except among a minority of fanatical ultranationalists who were purged in 1944, when Turkey aligned itself with the Allied Powers. Further complicating matters, the Soviet Union (considered a 'friendly' nation until Stalin became enraged over Turkey's neutrality during the war) was also a source of influence in many respects, particularly due to the affinity between the progressivist tone of Kemalism and Soviet ideology. A notable example is the earliest documentary film of Ankara, entitled Türkiye'nin Kalbi Ankara (Ankara, the Heart of Turkey), which was produced by Soviet filmmakers to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Turkish Republic in 1933.

Interwar Turkey also pragmatically attracted many Jews and dissidents fleeing from Nazi terror in Europe, most of whom were professionals who contributed to the development of modern infrastructure and education in Turkey. Among them was Bruno Taut, a leading architect of Weimar modernism who built the Faculty of Humanities in Ankara and who was the first non-Muslim to be buried in a Muslim cemetery in Turkey. Similarly, Austrian architect Clemens Holzmeister, who spent the Second World War years in Turkey after the Anschluss, was one of the masterminds behind Ankara's urban design. He also designed the current Turkish parliament building, which opened in 1960.

However, not all of the architects, urban planners, and artists who contributed to the development of Turkey's modern urban infrastructure were dissidents of the Nazi regime. After all, Turkey did have diplomatic relations with Nazi Germany until 1944, culminating in a mutual non-aggression pact in 1941 at the height of the war. The Güvenlik Anıtı, or Security Monument, located in Ankara's central Kızılay area and designed by Holzmeister, bears the signature of Josef Thorak, one of the two state sculptors of the Nazi regime. Initially, the project was being carried out by the Austrian Anton Hanak, who passed away in 1934 while it was still in progress. The finishing touches were then added by Thorak, who created the reliefs on the monument's backside. His controversial career later included many public projects commissioned by the Nazis.

At the base of the Ankara-typical andesite pedestal, the monument bears a quotation from Atatürk: 'Turk, be proud, work hard, and have trust.' Reliefs depicting the Turkish police and gendarmerie are carved into the two wings on either side of the pedestal to which the monument is formally dedicated—hence its name. The backs of the wings feature two additional sets of reliefs depicting the Turkish peasantry and intelligentsia. At the front of the massive, rectangular pedestal stand are two approximately 20-foot (six-meter) high male figures of bronze, which also ostensibly depict the Turkish police and gendarmerie. The back of the pedestal features a large relief in which Atatürk is at the center, surrounded by four male figures.

Located in the heart of Ankara, the park hosting the monument has recently been the site of several major incidents involving social and political unrest. In 2013, it was the main site of the Gezi Park protests in Ankara. In 2016, it was the site of one of the deadliest terrorist attacks in Turkish history, which claimed 38 lives. Just four months later, it was damaged by gunfire during a failed coup. Traces of the damage are still visible and have been marked for commemoration purposes.