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Urbaniza(on in the Conflict Zone: Self-‐governance vs. State Hegemony in
Sur
Ceyda Sungur / Emmy Ifigeneia Karimali
Cizre, Şirnak. April, 2016. Emin Özmen Les Jours: hFps://lesjours.fr/obsessions/les-‐jours-‐a-‐l-‐oeil/ep7-‐cizre/
Aim of the research How state of warfare becomes an urban policy? The state hegemony vs. Self Governance
Sur, Diyarbakır. February, 2016. Anadolu agency, The Guardian: hFps://www.theguardian.com/ciTes/2016/feb/09/destrucTon-‐sur-‐turkey-‐historic-‐district-‐gentrificaTon-‐kurdish#img-‐1
• Facts: August 2015 -‐ the declaraTon of self-‐governance & extensive and brutal state military operaTon and state of siege in the whole region Followed by declaraTons of disaster risk and urgent expropriaTon
• The mo(va(on: possibiliTes of space and peace struggle • Addressing the enormous variability of urbanized warfare tools, while in Sur daily life as a space of force and conflict
holds the struggle itself.
• Methodology: Ethnographic Field Note; QualitaTve analysis ofnotes and observaTons supported and guided by legal documents (master plans, regulaTons, declaraTons of party representaTves, parliamentary minutes, supplementary
reports and literature) and interviews done with local acTvists (from different disciplines, civic iniTaTves and insTtuTons) and officers in local government (urban planners, engineers and experts on social services), few inhabitants
from Sur, and panel discussions held both in Istanbul and Diyarbakır.
Ottoman rule Eastern Reform 1925 T.C.
90’s Turgut Özal’s Legacy
“The Collapse Plan” Contemporary Eastern reform
• 19th Century Ottoman Empire
• Turkish Modernity &Centralization policies
• Turkism & Turkification Policies
• Unilateral cancellation of the local authonomy contact of Kurdish Tribes
• Fallowed by the Uprisals
- The Rise of PKK founded with a goal to establish free kurdish Nation
- PKK as a huge military force claimin and the political complex of media and a party (HEP- Peoples Labour Party)supported by 1/3 of Kurdish population
-‐ 1991 Gulf War the protecTon provided by the US for the Kurds in Iraq
- Özal ( as the Neoliberal Father) letter to the prime minister
- Resettlement plans/ Evacuation of villages
- Reform in the Military - Increasing incentives
investment in the region - Centers of attraction - Development plans
The Context: State vs Kurds
• Policies to ensure Turkish Soverignity
• Refusal and ignorance of Kurdish identity
• Treaty of LusanneThe occupation and disintegration of Kurdistan
• Seizing the right of Kurdish people to decide their own destiny
• Prohibition of Kurdish Language
- 2014/ Collapse plan prepared by the office of commander in chief
- “Srilanka Model” - Low intensity conflict
to full-‐dimensional precision warfare
-‐ Peace process as a prepara(on of war
-‐ Siege at ci(es, destruc(on of livelihoods
-‐ “OccupaTon” of Turkish State -‐ AssimilaTon, ignorance destrucTon of Kurdish idenTty -‐ PKK ( Kurdistan Workers Party) paradigm shik-‐ “democraTc confederalism” democraTc system of a people without a State -‐ “the Peace Process” / weak recogniTon of JusTce and Development Party (AKP).
the success of pro-‐Kurdish Peoples’ DemocraTc Party
Gains of Kurdish struggle in Syrian-‐ Turkey border against ISIS, state violence sparkled anew in Bakur
The timeline of the warfare/ the end of “peace process”
June 2015 Turkish NaTonal Secret Services vehicles deliver gun arTllery to ISIS
5th June Explosions on HDP (pro Kurdish party) meeTngs in Diyarbakır
7th June Na(onal Elec(ons HDP-‐ 13% enters the parliament AKP looses absolute majority
21st July Suicide bomber assassinates 32 students in Suruç
12th August DeclaraTon of self governance in all Kurdish ciTes by KCK (…)
July AKP and MHP declare “shut down HDP” the end of peace process
16th August First curfews in Muş and Varto districts
10th October Explosions on a peace meeTng assassinates 101 protestors in Ankara
1st November NaTonal ElecTons AKP becomes the ruling party aker a pre elecTon period with repression terror and fraud
Ongoing curfews
There is a war Map of the region/ kurdistan/
“The master plan of collapse” 18 Ocak 2016 Prime Minister, Davutoğlu: “Three phases of military opera:ons: “ 1-‐ Before the opera:on 2-‐ During The Opera:on 3 ACer the Opera:on “We’ll shiC city centers of Hakkari and Şırnak to Gever(Yüksekova) and Cizre. We’ll establish more police offices, If it is necessary, we’ll implement urban transforma:on projects. Of course it is not about gaining land rant. Those places became the locus of terror and ruins. We’ll clean the traces of terror one by one.. We won’t leave the ci:es, aCer the opera:on we’ll stay there :ll we sustain the public order and safety…..Sur is the center of ancient civiliza:ons we won’t let it be a center of terrorism. We’ll rennovate it and transform it into a trous:c center like Toledo…”
Significance of Sur
Sur, the historic center of Diyarbakır/ Amed -‐cultural heritage The imagined “Capital” of Bakur/ Northen Kurdistan “the capital of Kurdish idenTty” Core of the Kurdish struggle, Upraisals/serhildan
Chamber of Urban Planers, Diyarbakir branch Personal archive of Leyla Rojine Oğurlu
Historical Evolution of Diyarbakır
Historical Evolution of Diyarbakır
Historical Evolution of Diyarbakır
Historical Evolution of Diyarbakır
Historical Evolution of Diyarbakır
the state’s “post-war” space and the Kurdish political movement’s “post-colonial” space? the (re)appropriaTon of cityscape:
Turism as the common ground &Reimagining the Place
What was “Sur” before the occupation?
Personal Archive of Emmy Ifigeneia Karimali and Leyla Rojine Oğurlu GÖÇ VE KENT: 1989’DAN GÜNÜMÜZE GÖÇ EDEN, İNSANLARIN KENT ADAPTASYONU, DİYARBAKIR ÖRNEĞİ, YILMAZ CAN
People who are exposed to forced migraTon in 90’s Lower-‐Middle Class Heterogenious Space Space of Solidarity, communal everyday life pracTces,
The end of the battles in Sur
June 2015 May 2016
Sur, Diyarbakir. Google earth
Borders of neighborhoods Demolished buildings Damaged buildings Deomolished area
Monumental Civic architecture Listed
Existed Buildings
Chamber of Urban Planers, Diyarbakir branch
The end of the battles in Sur
1312 demolished 56 Registered buildings 68 buildings of civic architecture
Newly announced expropriaTon parcels Older expropriaTon parcels Non expropriated parcels Chamber of Urban Planers, Diyarbakir branch
82% percent of land is expropriated
21 March 2016 Council of Ministers decided upon an “emergency expropriaTon” depending upon the “risk area declaraTon” in 2012
The end of the battles in Sur
%52 demolished %20 no informaTon about the house %30 lost their jobs %64,8 want to turn back to sur %30 turned back already %94,5 against expropriaTon %80 percent do not want to open up a trial
The agenda: neoliberalism vs “contemporary eastern reform"
Bianet, hFp://bianet.org/bianet/siyaset/107183-‐27-‐mayis-‐kurtler-‐ve-‐sark-‐islahat-‐plani-‐kararnamesi
State’s plans, video of “Rebuilding Sur” hFps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDvlaot4ooY Sertac Kayar Reuters, RT, hFps://www.rt.com/news/330394-‐turkey-‐people-‐flee-‐diyarbakir-‐kurds/
Architecture of occupation- AKP style chauvinism Securitizing vs unsafety -‐ Placing karakol (police office) on top of buildings that were used collecTvely, such as local assemblies. -‐ Karakol as a tool of dislocaTon -‐ Garrison town
“you’ll see the power of Turks” Personal archive of Leyla Rojine Oğurlu
Chamber of Urban Planers, Diyarbakir branch
“You know, I would never leave my house, even if they come for expropria:on I won’t sell it. I can even fight to them if they want to take my house. But I can not stand seeing the police officers everyday next to my house. Nobody could expect me to resist against them..If they (police office) I won’t sell my house but I’ll leave Sur definitely… How can I feel safe with a bunch of police next to my door?”
DestrucTon of the collecTve memory Ruined historical buildings & ruined streets, ruined life
Architecture of occupation- AKP style chauvinism
Chamber of Urban Planers, Diyarbakir branch Personal archive of Leyla Rojine Oğurlu
They think that they can frighten us by demolishing all those stones, it makes no sense. They are talking about the clearance… We know what they are trying to clear. It is not the stones they are turning down, they are turning down my childhood. We can fix (reconstruct) Sur, but how will they fix(overcome) our heartbreak?
Class conflict and injustice of warfare
Kayapınar Sur
“We no:ced that we were unfair to Sur, we were thinking that Sur was not safe because of marginalized and criminalized environment. But they resisted, they resisted for all of us.. What a shame for us, we couldn't do anything”
Urban morphology vs class configuration
Kayapınar District Bağlar District Yeni Şehir District the ancient core
Sur District
Total Affected popula(on: 26084
700 families to Bağlar,
600 families to Sur
500 families to Yenişehir,
350 families to Kayapınar in shared flat
Local organizations vs local government Local government pracTce: objecTves to defend the peoples right & public service of a state insTtuTon Since 2001: Common Bread houses, Common Loundary Houses, Open budget and public meeTngs The municipality of regional metropo l i tan center w i th transnaTonal poliTcal, cultural and commercia l Tes , and w h e r e i n a l i b e r a T n g administraTve and poliTcal model built on the Kurdish people’s demands (democraTc autonomy) might be developed.
Mistrust in local government organizaTons caused by previous urban policies and projects ConcepTon “a state” We want them to help us but they don’t, it is ok, we can not get angry to them or stand against them.. But we wont forget it..
Conclusive remarks
• Self governance pracTce organically evolved in Rojava, However for Bakur it was sTll a top-‐down decision in relaTon to local and trans naTonal dynamics.
• The self autonomy lies in the Kurdish socio-‐poliTcal idenTty, history of struggle and its class
configuraTon, the emancipatory pracTces sTll lies in the everydaylife pracTces in Sur • Turism and re-‐appropriaTng space is a common ground for both the state and the local
government, which is in conflict with the lower classes • Neoliberal policies before the warfare can not be a period of war preparaTon, however the
transformaTon of space and the tools of spaTal producTon affects the pracTces of resistance which affects the peace struggle against war…
• Could state accomplish its plans?
