Everyday Fear and Tension in Declining Informal Settlements of Turkish Cities: An Outcome of Refugee-Inflow or Neoliberal (Urban) Policies?

The increasing social isolation, dramatic decline in relations of trust and solidarity, emerging feelings of everyday fear/anxiety and inter-group conflicts among urban poor are indicators mostly identified with the inflow of Syrian refugees in declining neighborhoods of Turkish cities since 2012. By means of a qualitative analysis of inter-group relations in a multi-ethnic informal (gecekondu) inner-city low-income neighborhood in İzmir, this article aims to question this identification by putting the ‘refugee problem’ in the context of the neoliberal (urban) policies that have been practiced in the last two to three decades in Turkey. The deterioration of social relations in informal poor settlements of large cities in Turkey is rather a function of the multifaceted impacts of neoliberal (urban) policies that have been practiced in Turkey particularly during the last two to three decades, which precedes the influx of refugees. Consequently, it is intended to build a general typology of the impacts of these macro policies on socio-spatial dynamics at the local scale. Taking the growing anxiety and discomfort among migrant groups within urban spaces in Turkey into account, the study explicitly aims at providing indicators for a novel research and furthermore political action steps that consider inter-group relations and social cohesion at the local level.

Keywords

Urban Studies, Neoliberal Urban Policies, Informal Low-income Settlements, Turkey, Syrian Refugees, Inter-group Relations, Everyday Fear, Security.