The spatialization of Islamist, populist, and neo-Ottoman discourses in the Turkish capital under AKP rule

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Ghulyan H.

NEW PERSPECTIVES ON TURKEY, no.61, pp.125-153, 2019 (SSCI, Scopus) identifier

  • Publication Type: Article / Article
  • Publication Date: 2019
  • Doi Number: 10.1017/npt.2019.15
  • Journal Name: NEW PERSPECTIVES ON TURKEY
  • Journal Indexes: Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Scopus
  • Page Numbers: pp.125-153
  • Keywords: Politics of space, spatialization of discourse, Islamism, populism, neo-Ottomanism, Ankara, Turkish Presidential Palace
  • Open Archive Collection: AVESIS Open Access Collection
  • Ankara University Affiliated: Yes

Abstract

This article discusses the recent politics of space in Turkey during the rule of the Justice and Development Party (Adalet ve Kalkinma Partisi, AKP) through a focus on the capital city of Ankara. In order to analyze the recent politics of space in Turkey, the article elaborates upon the recent politics of toponym changes and the discourse over space and place in the Turkish capital. Particular attention is paid to the spatialization of neo-Ottoman, Islamist, and populist discourses and to the production of various representational and counter-representational spaces. One of the key foci of the article is its elaboration on the new Presidential Complex (Cumhurbaskanligi Kulliyesi) as a case that, in its representational and conceptual aspects, reflects the spatialization of Islamist and populist discourses and symbolizes the recent transformations of social space and the emergent sociospatial order in Turkey.