EARLIER this year large electronic screens started popping up on street corners in Istanbul. Set up by the ruling Justice and Development (AK) party, they display a newsreel dominated since the coup attempt of July 15th by anti-coup advertisements, images of pro-democracy rallies and the slogan “Hakimiyet Milletindir” (“sovereignty belongs to the nation”). Not everyone is impressed by them. “It’s absurd,” shrugs a waiter in Nevizade, a street filled with bars, tea houses and hostels.
Since the economic liberalisation of the 1980s, Istanbul has been the site of almost-constant redevelopment and construction. Across the road from Nevizade is Tarlabasi, the site of a redevelopment scheme which has seen buildings destroyed and families displaced. Similar projects have removed thousands of Istanbul’s citizens from the centre of the city to new housing in far-flung areas. The AK news screen at the intersection of these two neighbourhoods is a reminder of the devlet baba (the “daddy state”) and its capacity to reach into the daily lives of citizens.
