GEZİ BAŞKALDIRISI ERTESİNDE KENT MEKÂNI VE SİYASAL ALANIN YENİ DİNAMİKLERİ

Abstract

URBAN SPACE AND POLITICS IN THE WAKE OF GEZI UPRISING ABSTRACT Turkey has been undergoing a dramatic change fueled by the twin dynamics of commodification of commons and conservative authoritarianism by the AKP led government. Urban space has been at the hearth of this project which have created an immense conflict and a radical split in the society. Gezi uprising emerged as a reaction both to such policies which have been companied by increasing authoritarianism of the government and to the failure of the insitutional political field in responding to such divisive policies. As an ongoing process Gezi has emerged as a political mobilisation from without the insitutional political field by challenging not only to the dominant urban policies but also to the well accepted rules of the political field. As an unusual political form, Gezi uprising has been a bottom-up populist mobilisation which brought vast array of group and organisations together around a demand without a clear leadership. Likewise, Gezi uprising has produced its own distinctive spatial practices as well as representational spaces and spaces of representation in a short space of time. Nonetheless, it is still early to judge whether the Gezi uprising could be deemed as an event creating durable changes in the dominant structures and relations. KEY WORDS: Urban Movements, Speed, Commodification, Bottom-up Populism, Event