Moral Qualities of Space, Historical Consciousness and Symbolic Boundaries in the Beyoğlu District of Istanbul
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Moral Qualities of Space, Historical Consciousness and Symbolic Boundaries in the Beyoğlu District of Istanbul Pekka Tuominen Research Series in Anthropology University of Helsinki Publications of the Faculty of Social Sciences 2 (2016) Social and Cultural Anthropology To be presented for public examination with the permission of the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Helsinki, in Auditorium XV, Main Building of the University of Helsinki on February 27, 2016 at 10. © Pekka Tuominen Cover photo: Pekka Tuominen Distribution and Sales: Unigrafia Bookstore http://kirjakauppa.unigrafia.fi/ books@unigrafia.fi PL 4 (Vuorikatu 3 A) 00014 Helsingin yliopisto ISSN 1458-3186 ISBN 978-951-51-1049-7 (Paperback) ISBN 978-951-51-1050-3 (PDF) Unigrafia, Helsinki 2016 ii Table of Contents List of illustrations vi Acknowledgements vii Introduction Explosive Encounters 1 Spatial Divisions and Appropriate Moral Frameworks 4 Historical Consciousness – Between Grand Narratives and Cultural Intimacy 6 Dynamics of Modernity and Urban Transformation 8 The Structure of the Thesis 10 Fieldwork and Methodology 13 Chapter 1: The Mahalle and the Urban Sphere 20 Defining Urban Spaces 26 Social Organization and Spatial Order of the Mahalle 31 The Boulevard and Egalitarian Urbanity 37 Chapter 2: Qualities of Boundaries and Moral Frameworks of Urbanity 45 Ambiguous Historical Divides – The Historical Peninsula and Beyoğlu 46 Boundaries and Lived Realities 54 Anthropology of Boundaries and Moral Frameworks 62 Access and Safe Passage 67 iii Chapter 3: Becoming an Istanbulite in a Fragmented City: Cultivation of the Modern Self 77 Expertise of the City 78 Taksim Square – Unifying Stories and Dividing Classifications 85 The Variety of Exemplary Pasts and Modern Selfhood 93 Chapter 4: Turkish Modernity 103 Modernity, Modernism, Modernization 104 The Spread of Modernity 109 Chapter 5: Late Ottoman Empire and the Republican Revolution 115 Late Ottoman Empire – Inevitable Disintegration and the Threshold of Modernity 117 Republican Revolution – Radical Encounter with Modernity 123 Restructuring the Principles of Belonging in the Early Republican Era 131 Chapter 6: Populist Modernity 143 Migration and the Urban Mosaic 144 Arabesk Urbanity 148 Chapter 7: The Emergence of Neoliberalism and Post-Kemalist Turkey 157 Neoliberal Configuration in Istanbul and Turkey 158 Neo-Ottomanism and New Forms of Islam as Challenges to Dominant Hierarchies 167 Contemporary Categories of Belonging and the Personal Quest for Dignity 176 iv Chapter 8: Morality, Public Space and Urban Transformation: New Solidarities in Beyoğlu 181 Public and Private Spaces 182 Moral Qualities of the Town Square 192 Urban Transformation – Spatial Orders Collide 201 Conclusion: Contextual Moral Frameworks 215 Glossary 218 References 221 v List of Illustrations Maps Map 1. Beyoğlu, the Historical Peninsula, the Bosporus and the Golden Horn viii Map 2. Istiklal Street, Tarlabaşı and Tophane viii Map 3. Streets of Tarlabaşı 29 Map 4. Istiklal Street and its subsidiary streets 30 Map 5. Kayaşehir 30 Map 6. Crossings of Tarlabaşı Boulevard 68 Map 7. The area of urban renewal in Tarlabaşı 207 Figures Figure 1. Screenshot from Istanbul Tales 83 Figure 2. Screenshot from Birds of Exile 85 Figure 3. Illustration of Oğuz Khan, Dede Korkut and Atatürk 126 Figure 4. Haydarpaşa Train Station 147 Figure 5. Simit cart in Istiklal Street 186 Figure 6. Renewal in Beyoğlu: Brass lettering on wooden background 187 Figure 7. The Yenikapı Rally Square Project 200 Figure 8. Aerial photograph of Kayaşehir 203 Figure 9. Illustration of urban renewal in Tarlabaşı 204 Figure 10. Neo-Ottoman architecture in Sulukule 205 Figure 11. Graffiti designating the boundaries of Tophane 211 Figure 12. Mobile walls in Depo 212 vi Acknowledgements First of all, I would like to thank all the people in Istanbul who took part in this study and made it possible. Their generosity, sense of humour and willingness to help have been immensely important qualities and I am thankful for the friendships that have developed in the course of the study. In the academia there have been countless people who have contributed to my dissertation. I thank my supervisor Toomas Gross for his hard work and endless patience in both the intellectual and administrative matters throughout the journey. There have been several specialists in different academic fields who have offered their insights and help at different stages of the process. The initial direction of the dissertation took its form largely during the Academy of Finland project “What makes a good Muslim: Contested notions of religious subjectivity at the age of global Islam” with Leena Avonius, Susanne Dahlgren, Marko Juntunen, Fadi Kabatilo, Henri Onodera, M’hammed Sabour, Samuli Schielke and Tea Virtanen. In the field of urban anthropology, Eeva Berglund has been of great help in pointing out new directions to explore. Minna Ruckenstein has been invaluable source of inspiration in stretching the boundaries of anthropology. Conversations with Sarah Green have helped me immensely especially at the last stages of the writing process and without her insights the dissertation would have been very different. I wish to thank Arto Sarla for providing the administrative support throughout my time at the University of Helsinki. My heartfelt thanks go to everyone at the anthropology department: our discussions and seminars have been extremely important in providing both reflection and inspiration. I thank Ruth Mandel and Brian Silverstein for their thoughtful comments and suggestions on the dissertation draft and numerous people who have devoted their time to read sections of the work and comment on the directions it has taken. I also want to express my gratitude to Michelle Obeid for agreeing to act as my opponent on the day of the public defence. I thank Center for Middle Eastern Studies (CMES), Lund University, for the privilege to share its intellectual atmosphere as a visiting scholar with its brilliant people from a wide variety of academic disciplines and interests. I wish to especially thank Leif Stenberg and Spyros Sofos for their help and support and everyone at the centre for inspiration and friendship. Towards the end of the writing process, I had a chance to work as a visiting scholar at Swedish Research Institute in Istanbul (SRII) and I am grateful for the stimulating research environment of the place. My wholehearted thanks go especially to Birgit Schlyter and Johan Mårtelius. I also wish to thank the Research Foundation of the University of Helsinki for a grant supporting my fieldwork. I thank Mauri, Helvi and Matti Tuominen for their help and support as well as all my friends and colleagues. Finally, I thank Noora for everything. vii Map 1. Beyoğlu, the Historical Peninsula, the Bosporus and the Golden Horn. Map 2. Istiklal Street, Tarlabaşı and Tophane. viii Introduction Explosive Encounters In just two years, the 23rd of January had acquired widespread signification as a day of political action. It marks the funeral of assassinated Hrant Dink, a prominent Turkish-Armenian journalist and intellectual, who was shot dead in front of the office of Agos, a newspaper that he had served as an editor-in- chief from its beginning in 1996. Now it was a grey Friday afternoon in 2009 and large crowds were moving towards the site of murder, mostly from the direction of Istanbul’s iconic Taksim Square. The ambience consisted of nervous expectation of the turn of the events and a sense of fulfilling one’s responsibility, of following the script that had already been laid out. The demonstration brought together a diverse crowd: groups carrying flags and banderols of political parties were outnumbered by people who did not fit into the neat political divides; the scene resembled a typical congestion in Istiklal Street, the famous boulevard in the Beyoğlu district, attracting multitude of people as a place to enjoy its specifically urban atmosphere. Most of the participants were in their twenties and thirties but there were also families and older people, especially groups of old men dressed in suits. The occasion had also attracted business opportunities; in addition to food-carts selling simple dishes, the most popular article seemed to be a scarf with a checkered pattern, with diverse significations alternating between political protest and a fashion statement. I met several friends in the crowd and was struck by their observations of details that could easily go unnoticed; the huge police presence was broken down into different factions, from the elite troops situated at the roofs of the surrounding buildings, ostensibly allowed to shoot without a warning, to the indiscernible snipers behind the windows and the officers of different ranks in the street with shields, helmets and batons. All the scarf- sellers were allegedly Kurds from the Mardin region in the Southeast and my friends identified several politicians, intellectuals and activists among participants. This was shared knowledge of Istanbul’s urbanity; rumours, ideas and stories as ways to classify its complex character and reorganize it into comprehensible narratives. I moved closer to the stage where the memorial speeches would be held and encountered another group of friends who will have the most crucial role in this study, Kurdish migrants living in the dilapidated inner- city neighbourhood of Tarlabaşı, just around the corner from Taksim Square. 1 Introduction The ongoing discussion dealt with our security: we were supposedly safe because there were so many people filming the event – an antidote for the excessive use of force by the police. On the downside, the state would assumedly film the participants and have their activities archived. Someone nearby said that demonstrations in Turkey are showcases of the state power, rituals repeated at different locations throughout the year. The organizers announced a moment of silence but the chanting continued: “We are all Hrant, we are all Armenians!” (“Hepimiz Hrant’ız, hepimiz Ermeni’yiz!”). Many also raised their hands; proponents of Kurdish rights showing a victory sign and the leftist factions raising their left fist while the atmosphere began to turn agitated.