A Politics Of Presence: Public Performances Of Roma Belonging In Istanbul 1

Abstract

In the years following the Gezi Park protests of summer 2013, the AK Party, once hailed as a moderate Islamist party with aspirations to the European Union, has responded harshly to all forms of civil dissent. Meanwhile, state-led urban renewal projects demolish minority neighbourhoods and displace their residents. Paradoxically, Turkish Romanlar (‘Gypsies’) frequently appear in the public realm to represent the government’s tolerance of diversity and commitment to minority integration. This raises two important questions: first, why is Turkey’s Islamist government invested in representing the Romanlar as ‘happy citizens’? Second, why do the Romanlar accept their role as performers of pluralism, and do such performances result in any tangible benefits for them? Based on ethnographic fieldwork, this chapter argues that Turkey’s Romanlar engage in the ‘art of presence’ via public performance. An analysis of several public events in Istanbul demonstrates how Turkey’s urban Romanlar engage in public performance as a strategy to make their presence known without explicitly resisting the hegemony of the ruling elite.