The article mainly points on the evolving procces
of concept of squatter's house in
Turkey. The 'gecekondu people' was named he ‘rural otherʼ in the 1950s and
1960s and this concept evolved to 'disadvantaged otherʼ in the 1970s and 'poor
other' in the 1980s and 1990s and
finally the ‘threatening other' in 1990s and now. This article is covered by
all these meanings/understandings which is named by community depending on
decades. The article does not intend to extract 'gecekondu people' by naming
'other'.
The
terminology of 'gecekondu' appeared in 1950s, begining time of immigration from
rural to urban. People who live in this hand-made buildings commonly called
'köylü' in 1950s. As a period of entegration of multi-pary system, it is called
also 'a period of rising of urbanizaiton. Democrat Party had a populist stand
to immigration. Thus, this cause unplanned urbanization in every sense. A tip
of 'gecekondu' family sticks between traditional and urban. We can see
'gecekondu' people that gardening infront their squatter as how they did in
village. This example shows us how squatter people try to survive in urban.
Squatter's family was always compared with bourgeois
families of the city by their consuming,settling and
social habits. The early modern families was complaining of rustication of city
by 'rural other'. 'gecekondulu', urban peasant 'other', the 'missing other'
'other backward' were doomed to be named from the 'modern other'.
By the 1970s, the paradigm change took
place in the social sciences, social events, a statement of modernization
theory, evolutionary theories of economic-political dominance has got
importance.As a result, slums are regarded, rather than a temporary phenomenon
experienced in the process of transition from traditional to modern, capitalist
system, peripheral countries as a product of their enduring phenomenon of
urbanization.Accordingly, 'gecekondu' has been differences in definition,
gecekondu, rather than a source of problems to be seen as victims of
circumstances, and considered as 'the exploited/disadvantaged other'.
'Gecekondulu' is aspiring to integration in the city, but it is said not
because of the structural conditions and state policies, or state in this
regard the lack of adequate policies. Altindag says
depending on his survey, ''The residents of the area desire children's
playground, health center services and don't want to be treated as second-class
citizens''.Common point in both periods is definition of the slums problem of
can not being integrated into the city.
The 1970s were a time of economic and
political problems, the polarized community as the right and left and armed
conflict had been occured at the end of the period.In the 1970s the economic
crisis in the world, and in this period of economic crisis rocking the country's
increasingly turbulent political environment, the strengthening of the left and
as a result of Ecevit's left discourse, votes were shifted to left demanded
equality and importance of labor from
status quo right.Now, gecekondu people wants to modify an existing one
according to their own interest, instead of to integrate existing order.So
that, 'gecekondu' has started to evolve into 'threatining other'.
Slum has left homogeneous community
editing, to the gender-based, ethnic, sectarian differentiation location of the
community in the 1980s and 1990s. Identifying in slum has been appeared
including Alevi, Kurdish and feminist movement.Today the different is the
tendency to emphasize these identities.'Gecekondu' defined as 'can be
recovered' in the past, but now it has been referred to with words such as ''unjust
enrichment'', ''plunder'', ''loot'' by they are drawned into mechanism of
annuity. On the other hand, the other side of the image of the slums and
poverty, is increasingly subjected to researches.Today, the 'gecekondu' knows for poor urban slums.
Today, the
community sees slums as districts where illegal political organizations and
crime groups settled in. And it is created a new concept to describe this
situation; ''varoş''.Therefore, a link was established between suburban and
violence, from the first use of the
word. ''varoşlu'' consumption is also devoid of aesthetics, benefiting from the
blessings of the city but not keeping up
with culture of the city at the same time.The word 'gecekondu' is available as
one of the most widely to use.However, this identification often exist, a
situation that can not be denied as an emerging of passive acceptance and
generally means that acceptance of
undesirable, social and physical disadvantage.