How Tell What Remains: Sulukule Nevermore

Abstract

In this present discussion, I am concerned with the recent demolition and devastation of Sulukule, a predominantly Roma district located in the historical peninsula (Sultanahmet) of Istanbul. In order to address key issues, I think that it is necessary to explore the wider cultural setting and resonances of this aggressive action of urban-global "upgrading" in the city. The contemporary, general logic of metropolitan globalization should be situated in the specifi c and distinctive context of Istanbul's evolving urban identity. There are three principal objectives. The fi rst is to describe the process by which Istanbul's Fatih local municipality initiated a program of radical "urban renewal" in the cause of gentrifi cation in the historic, central zone of the city. The second objective is to situate the developments in Sulukule in the KEVIN ROBINS IS A VISITING FELLOW AT Published by Duke University Press CULTURAL POLITICS KEVIN ROBINS> context of the longer-term cultural imaginaire through which the city's historical trajectory has come to be conceived (as elaborated preeminently in the literary texts of Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar and, subsequently, Orhan Pamuk). Third, I explore the new conceptual and ideological frame that is now coming to be mobilized to serve as a rationale for the reinvention, in the name of urban modernization, of Istanbul's cultural heritage, sense of identity, and logic of purpose. Much can be learned about the contemporary transformation of Istanbul through the prism of the recent, hard Roma experience.

Heritage and the Middle East: Cities, power, and memory

“…In 2006, the local municipality—in partnership with the state public housing authority—used a law protecting the “historical urban fabric” to expropriate the long‐time Roma residents of the neighborhood. To contest this dispossession, residents and activists documented and sought to make visible their own long history of social life and presence within the city (Foggo, ; Robins, ). Although the neighborhood was ultimately demolished, memories of Sulukule continue to be circulated (Uysal, ; van Dobben Schoon, ).…”

Co-Producing Collections: Re-imagining a Polyvocal Past with Cultural Probes

“…Yusuf and the municipality of Fatih (which covers the historic peninsula) and close to the Land Wall gate of Charisius, Edirnekapı. Building on events through the 1990s, the area was comprehensively demolished around 2009-10 with many of the mostly Roma inhabitants being forcibly relocated to distant suburbs (Uysal, 2012: 15), making way for a modern housing development (for more, see Foggo 2007;Robins, 2011;Uysal, 2012). The gentrification of this area which had functioned as an entertainment district was a catastrophic loss of both home and livelihood for many in the Roma community.…”

Hope with Qualms: A Feminist Analysis of the 2013 Gezi Protests

“…As in Sulukule, the simultaneous racialisation and sexualisation of lower-class groups (Amar, 2013), underwrites widespread urban displacement that attaches cultural authenticity to monumental and embodied heritage in the AKP's reconstruction of İstanbul as an honourable, lucrative Global City (Robins, 2011). Before and after Gezi, anti-gentrification movements in 'redeveloping' İstanbul neighbourhoods, from Başıbüyük and Tarlabaşı to Fikirtepe and Validebag, have relentlessly resisted such symbolic and material displacement with communitybased alternatives (Ünsal and Kuyucu, 2010).…”