Governing the Contested City: Geographies of Displacement in Diyarbakir, Turkey

Abstract

This article develops a spatial analysis of the authoritarian governmentality of the Kurdish issue in Turkey through a case study of Diyarbakir in which geographies of war and peace have coalesced. Drawing on recent theorisations of military urbanism, it examines encounters-including both conflict and cooperation-between the state bureaucracy, local pro-government elite and pro-Kurdish municipal authorities within the context of the initiatives to rehabilitate the city's historic centre, Surici, during the period 2002-2015. The article suggests considering Surici's rehabilitation as part of a post-conflict urban regime to thwart social and political vibrancy of the Kurdish urban poor in tandem with the idea of securitisation through marketisation. In doing so, it demonstrates that unpacking spatial imaginaries and rationalities that have rendered Surici dwellers displaceable by devaluing their collective urban experience is critical for our understanding of the utter violence erupted during and after the urban warfare of 2015.