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Abstract
As Hakan Yavuz has discussed, a new Islamic bourgeoisie holds political capital in contemporary Turkey. My presentation analyzes the architectural voice of said Islamic bourgeoisie by evaluating contemporary government funded urban renewal projects in Turkey. This topic also discusses the counter voices’ response to the urban renewal programs which sparked the Gezi Park protests of summer 2013. My overall argument in the paper focuses on the spatial politics of the AKP and the countervoices of the Gezi Park protesters. My presentation will outline the Gezi Park Protests in Turkey and the visual rhetoric and satire (such as the now-famous image of the penguin) which constituted a reaction to the policies of Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (Adalet ve Kalkinma Partisi – AKP). My research analyzes the spatial politics of the AKP and how they have formed an architectural public sphere which has been criticized by a protest public sphere formulated by the protestors at Gezi Park. I will explore a theoretical concept of Erdoğanian Neo-Ottomanism in regards to the way in which the AKP has redefined urban Turkey. In particular I will analyze the media’s reaction to the protests and the visual rhetoric employed by the protesters to oppose the AKP’s spatial politics. I will also describe ethnographic research that I conducted in Istanbul during Gezi Park and share some of the reactions of my respondents. I will conclude by briefly tying this subject to the recent media coverage of AKP corruption probes in Turkey.
Discipline
Media Arts
Geographic Area
Turkey
Sub Area
Turkish Studies