Contested Spaces in Contemporary Turkey: Environmental, Urban and Secular Politics

Description

The most significant political development of the post-Cold War era was, arguably, the diffusion of neoliberalism across the globe. Yet behind the illusion of abundance and development, the ‘rule of the market’ can be violent and destructive, exploiting the environment, dismissing cultural or historical conservation and ignoring individual rights. This book now examines the emergence and consequences of neoliberalism in Turkey. of particular importance to the study are the contested spaces - those sites of struggle and protest - where the impact of this economic system is challenged or negotiated. The contributors look beyond the neoliberal cities of the West - Istanbul and Ankara - to take into account the rest of the country and the groups that are most negatively affected: such as the Kurds, women and migrants. Chapters consider the complexity of neoliberalism in Turkey, where the power of the market, the agenda of the state, and significantly, the country’s past, are shown to have shaped current economic practices and policies. Contested Spaces in Contemporary Turkey sheds new light on the societal processes that are re-shaping modern Turkey, a subject which is of increasing importance considering Erdogan’s new model for an Islam-based state and in the aftermath of the July 2016 military coup attempt. It is at the cutting edge of research on urban history and social space and will be a significant resource for scholars of Turkish Studies and Kurdish Studies. Cover Title Copyright Contents List of Illustrations List of Contributors Introduction. Contested Spaces in Neo-liberal Turkey Part I: History 1. Manufacturing Collective Identities: Turkey, Syria and France Contesting Sovereignty over Antioch 2. Ankara’s Forgotten Mental Maps, Changing Demography and Missing Minorities 3. Negotiating History and Diversity in a Border Province: The Non-Muslim Urban Past in Today’s Edirne Part II: State 4. Mobilizing the State, Monitoring the Countryside: Mobile Village Courses in Turkey 5. İstanbul Confidential: Heroin, Espionage and Politics in Cold War Turkey, 1945 – 60 6. Mosques, Media and Meaning in the Federal Republic of Germany from the 1970s to the Early 1990s 7. The State, Law and Feminist Struggles in the Neo-liberalizing City: The İstanbul Courthouse as a Contested Space 8. The Political Economy of a Conservation Plan: The Case of Uluabat Lake 9. From Shining Icons of Progress to Contested Infrastructures: “Damming” the Munzur Valley in Eastern Turkey Part III: Market 10. Irregular Migration and Negotiated Urban Space in Kumkapi, İstanbul 11. Turkey’s Urban Neo-liberalism: The Normalization of Informality During JDP Rule 12. Refusing to Become Pious Soldiers: Islamist Conscientious Objection in Turkey 13. “Wake Up!” and “Nomad”: Competing Visions of Turkish and Kurdish Environmentalism in the Music of Tarkan and Aynur Index