Metropolitics

Open Letter Condemning the Purge of Academic Institutions in Turkey

The Editorial Board — 2016-07-22T10:57:00Z

The editorial board of Metropolitics invites its readers to join it in its support of the following petition (link below) condemning the current situation in Turkish academic institutions.
“As academics and administrators affiliated with colleges and universities around the world, we the undersigned strongly condemn the recent attacks on academic freedom by President Erdoğan and his Justice and Development Party (AKP).”
Link:

- Metropolitics / Turkey

The Crisis of Geographical Imagination in Turkey

Luka Lucić — 2016-06-21T05:00:00Z

Ethnic, nationalistic and social tensions are at an all-time high in Turkey, exacerbated by the re‑emergence of the “Kurdish problem” and the influx of Syrian refugees fleeing the war. Minorities are persecuted and academics denouncing exactions are targeted by the government. Luka Lucić compares this situation to the collapse of Yugoslavia and warns of possible dire times to come.
There was an old joke often told in Sarajevo during the early days of the siege (1992‑1995). All across former

- Essays / refugees, segregation, Turkey, crisis, minorities, ethnonationalism, Syria, former Yugoslavia, Kurdistan, persecution, ideology

Kanal İstanbul: a “crazy project” serving political ambitions

Yoann Morvan & translated by Oliver Waine — 2011-12-07T06:00:00Z

The current proliferation of mega-projects in the Istanbul metropolitan area is both undeniable and impressive. The projects currently in progress or scheduled for the near future will impose long-lasting changes on the urban structure of this megalopolis. Yoann Morvan, a researcher and co-director of the Observatoire Urbain d'Istanbul (Istanbul Urban Observatory), analyses these territorial metamorphoses and highlights the electoral and economic factors that come into play behind the scenes.

- Debates / urban planning, Istanbul, Turkey, transport