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Thieves, Kabadayıs, and Revolutionaries on the Margin a Social History of the Police in the Altındağ Slums in Ankara, Turkey (1920S-1970S)

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Thieves, Kabadayıs, and Revolutionaries on the Margin a Social History of the Police in the Altındağ Slums in Ankara, Turkey (1920S-1970S) Thieves, Kabadayıs, and Revolutionaries on the Margin A Social History of the Police in the Altındağ Slums in Ankara, Turkey (1920s-1970s) by Çağlar Dölek A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Affairs in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy In Sociology Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario © 2019 Çağlar Dölek Abstract This thesis analyzes the historical marginalization of the Altındağ gecekondu (squatter) region in Ankara, Turkey from the 1920s to the 1970s in the context of capitalist urbanization. The analysis is developed through a critical exploration of the social history of the police that becomes pivotal for the materialization of state power on the urban margins. Deploying a dialectical analysis of the historical matrix of the police, class, and urban space, the thesis reveals the contradictory character of police power shaped by various forms of social, spatial, and political contestations. A tripartite, historically constituted, analytical framework is offered for a radical critique of police power comprised of distinct forms of struggle that reflect the fundamental concerns and foundational contradictions haunting modern police science in the management of capitalist modernity: (1) struggles over urban space; (2) struggles over forms of subsistence; and (3) struggles over a moral order. The thesis explores how these three forms of struggle historically condition the making of social criminality as a practice of subsistence and the production of popular illegality which manifests as an inarticulate and subversive form of moral order on the urban margin. The thesis further explores the cathartic association of social marginality with radical politics in the context of the gecekondu struggles in the 1970s. This reading of police power exposes a relational perspective that acknowledges the historical agency of subordinate classes in the formation and contestation of capitalist modernity. Finally, it is argued that a dialectical critique of police power provides a significant political and theoretical medium through which a radical critique of capitalist modernity from below can be formulated. ii To the wretched of Altındağ iii Acknowledgements This thesis project was first conceived and launched at Middle East Technical University (METU) in Ankara, Turkey, and finalized at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada. It has been made possible through a collective labour process with the involvement of numerous beautiful people from different localities. At a moment of a relentless academic crackdown and an increasingly authoritarian political atmosphere in Turkey, I would like to present, at this very outset, my gratitude to the Academics for Peace, the purged, prosecuted, and exiled academics, for their determination and courage for shouting out the truth and insisting on solidarity to stake out their claim. Perhaps most importantly, they have safeguarded the seeds of hope for an alternative future with freedom and justice. My Carleton experience has provided me with an invaluable opportunity to experience a different intellectual and scholarly atmosphere, and many scholars have contributed to this experience through various means that cannot be appreciated enough within the confines of the words below. First and foremost, I owe sincere thanks to George S. Rigakos for his intellectual and political comradeship in the last three years. Our discussions have transformed the thesis experience into a stimulating and vibrant journey of intellectual exploration and political contemplation. Inviting me to the Institute of Political Economy, Justin Paulson has opened an invaluable channel to rigorous thinking on the theoretical and political problems that continue haunting the radical political imagination in our contemporary world. With his tireless and sincere efforts in solidarity and scholarly collaboration, Aaron Doyle has provided life-saving guidance in this entire process. Umut Özsu always presented his support by raising challenging questions, as well as opening inspiring pathways for the thesis to find its way. I would also like to thank all the members of the thesis defence committee, and particularly Luis Fernandez, for turning the ‘defence event’ into a collegial platform for a stimulating collective discussion. iv Dear Amy Bartholomew has always been with me throughout the process with her dedicated embrace of solidarity as a way to envisage an alternative form of personal and social association. Many thanks, dear Amy! I would also like to thank Xiaobei Chen and Alexis Shotwell, who acted as graduate program coordinators at different time periods, for their tireless efforts in resolving issues of the non-academic kind that condition the increasingly precarious making of the academic field. Darlene Moss, Paula Whissell, Stephanie LeBlanc, and Kimberly Seguin from the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, and Donna Coghill from the Institute of Political Economy have always presented their exceptional support and guidance. I am grateful to all of you! I have always been proud of being part of the intellectually vibrant and politically fervent community of scholars and progressive forces at METU. No words would express the kind of gratitude I feel in this regard. Still, I would try to thank dear Pınar Bedirhanoğlu, my life-long ‘hocam’ and colleague. Our years-long discussions have put an enduring impact on my intellectual, as well as personal and political ‘making’. Dear Galip Yalman’s ‘state debate’ will always guide and inspire me to better understand ‘the empirical’ without necessarily being ‘an empiricist’. Dear Filiz Zabcı, Ferdan Ergut and Tarık Şengül provided valuable contributions in the initial stages of this thesis project with their expertise on the fundamental dimensions of the research problem I tried to formulate. Dear Katharina Bodirsky and Özgür Avcı contributed much to the design of the fieldwork with their rigorous methodological and epistemological discussions at the Graduate Program of Social Anthropology and the Department of Political Science and Public Administration at METU. I also owe special thanks to dear Mustafa Kemal Bayırbağ, who has presented his exceptional expertise and inspiring analytical thinking as a means to intervene in the ‘thesis crisis’. I managed to resolve the ‘enigma’ in the thesis with our hours-long discussions at Mike’s Place during his visiting period at Carleton University in Winter 2019. Many thanks Mustafa, for being also a source of ‘hope’ in this disenchanted world! v I cannot pay back my indebtedness to all the beautiful people from Altındağ, Ankara that I met throughout the exciting, frustrating, as well as emotionally heavy process of field research. The mere words uttered here represent the nakedness inherent to the linguistic form. I would still like to present my sincere thanks to all my respondents for being amazingly generous and considerate in providing affirmative responses to my interview requests, and sharing their personal stories with me. I also owe special thanks to dear Yaşar Seyman, Sıtkı Öner, Zakir Koçak, Kamber Ateş, Hüseyin Bayraktar, and Muzaffer Evirgen for embracing the political and intellectual cause of this scholarly attempt, and presenting challenging accounts from within their own biographies. I was shocked to hear the unexpected and untimely loss of Sıtkı Öner and Zakir Koçak during the thesis writing process in Canada. Rest in peace, dear Öner and Koçak! I know and deeply feel that your revolutionary seeds will find their way to burgeon amongst the generations to come, and will inspire them as ‘the spark of hope’! The field research could only be undertaken with the sincere support and encouragement of my friends Burhan Yaman, Ergül Ulu, Abdullah Türkoğlu, Zaim Güzel, Fatih Acar, Umut Tunç, Nuray Türkmen, Cemalettin Canlı, Samet Erdemir, Denizcan Kutlu, Yeşim Akmeraner, Seçil Sevim and Selma abla. Many thanks for your ‘logistical’ support and on-site solidarity during the field research. I am also thankful to all those dedicated individuals working and resisting at the Altındağ district organization of the Republican People’s Party. Sincerely embracing the cause of the thesis research, they opened new political horizons concerning the issue I have tried to understand during this limited thesis experience. The research for this thesis project has been undertaken at different libraries and archives in Turkey and Canada. Without the generous support and patience of the librarians from the following institutions, the research process would be much more challenging and frustrating. Many thanks to the librarians and support labourers at Middle East Technical University, Bilkent University, Koç University Ankara Studies Research Center, Turkey’s Center for Prison Studies, Turkish Historical Society, National Library of Turkey, and Carleton University. vi Without the support, understanding, and patience of the following beautiful people, I could never finalize this thesis in an already alienating and isolating sphere of neoliberal academia. Gözde Emen and Semih Gökatalay have followed each and every step of the thesis process for years. Based in San Diego, they not only opened their amazingly large database of historical material into my use but also provided a virtual solidarity during times of crisis and confusions. I would also like to thank my dear friends Melahat Kutun, Muteber Öğreten, Yasin Durak, Emek Durmuşoğlu, Hazel Başköy, Latife Akyüz, Ezgi Pınar, Selime
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