As one of 2010’s European Capitals of Culture, Istanbul launched a myriad of activities on offer in the city. It is the first ever city in a predominantly Muslim country to hold the title, and for some, this event is recognition of Istanbul’s pivotal role in the history of both Europe and Asia.
But for others, it raises again the question of Turkey’s relationship with Europe: how Europe should react to the accusations of human rights abuses, and how Istanbul’s minorities have fared in the run-up to the celebrations?
Eyes on Istanbul
Istanbul is always a spectacular destination. It boasts artistic and historical splendors such as the Topkapi Palace, great mosques and towers, huge city walls, the Grand Bazaar, and the palaces and castles along the Bosporus. It is also home to vibrant and diverse communities and the architectural relics of Genoese, Venetian, Greek, Armenian and Arab influences, as well as the sweeping historical legacy of the Ottoman Empire.
Istanbul is also a major tourist attraction and business center. According to market researchers Euromonitor International, for business — including events such as trade fairs and conferences — Istanbul is a bigger hub than the capital, Ankara. It is the second most important tourist destination after the Mediterranean coast.
Turkish tourism has bucked global trends and continued growing despite the recession, and Istanbul has outperformed even the national average. According to Forbes magazine, Istanbul ranks fourth in the world for its population of billionaires.
But in 2010, the city’s European Capital of Culture Agency is aiming to add a wide range of events to Istanbul’s attractions. The activities were launched with a grand concert and firework display.
Over the year, this will be followed with the historical Treasures of the Kremlin touring exhibition, a festival of Balkan music, displays of contemporary art and workshops in animation.
The budget for the year’s events reportedly rings up at US$300 million for over 500 events celebrating Istanbul’s history as a bridge between the East and the West, and both its Islamic and Christian heritages.
Sites such as the Ayasofya, a Byzantine cathedral turned into a mosque, and the Kariye Museum, which has also been a church and a mosque and which displays spectacular ancient mosaics, have been held up as emblematic of the city’s place at the crossroads of history.
Egemen Bağış, Turkey’s Chief negotiator for the full membership negotiations with European Union officials, has told the European Parliament that Istanbul’s year as European Capital of Culture is a great opportunity for the EU and Turkey to learn to understand one another better.
Getting Ready
Surveys of former European Capitals of Culture, from Liverpool to Athens, Lisbon to Helsinki, show that a city’s being awarded the title can attract investment and act as a stimulus for renovating and developing its heritage and community.
In Istanbul, resources have been ploughed into promoting events at existing galleries and museums, and also into repairing and renewing some of the city’s ancient monuments.
Many historical structures and buildings have been renovated since Istanbul was awarded the title of European Capital of Culture for 2010, and investment in the services and information has been made available to visitors at historical sites.
The city’s “largest open-air museum” has also been declared at Yenikapi transfer point as a large-scale archaeological excavation taking place at the site of the Marmaray rail tunnel project, which in 2004 uncovered the ancient Port of Theodosius.
Controversies
But the European Capital of Culture project has not passed off altogether smoothly. Rumors of cronyism and corruption among the organizing committee plus high-profile resignations have led to questions about how public money has been spent.
Many of Turkey’s minority peoples have questioned their roles in the events. Further afield, political controversies and Western Islamophobia have given rise to hostile reactions.
Istanbul’s Gypsies have complained that despite being represented in a dance performance in the opening ceremony, actual communities have been forcibly removed from areas near the city walls where they have lived for centuries, but these areas have recently become valuable real estate slated for redevelopment.
According to Ali Murat Yel, a sociologist at the city’s Fatih University, the Gypsies have been relocated to low-grade tower blocks “not suitable for the Gypsy way of life.”
Some of Istanbul’s poorer communities, as well as opposition politicians, have also objected to the large sum of money being spent on the year of events, which they argue could have been better invested in housing, education, and infrastructure.
Also represented in the opening ceremony were Jewish and Armenian musicians and choirs. However, Jewish and Armenian community leaders joined a coordinated walkout during the ceremony claiming that they had been sidelined, with Armenian monuments absent from the culturally diverse promotional video.
The city’s Greek patriarch also left the proceedings over the alleged exclusion of this population from the festival, though some members of the community welcomed its absence suggesting that other cultures had been appropriated in order to give Istanbul a multicultural image.
Amid this, criticisms of the Capital of Culture publicity have also come from Islamic perspectives. Istanbul’s committee have been accused of using the festival to alleviate Western fears about “radical” Islam in Turkey by highlighting the city’s Christian heritage and leaving views of mosques or other Muslim sights out of the promotional materials.
Some exhibitions do acknowledge the Islamic art of Istanbul, but they have lower profiles than, for example, the Russian and Assyrian shows.
Commentators in publications such as the English-language Today’s Zaman have questioned whether Eurocentric political and economic pressures have meant that the festival authorities had concentrated on the “modern Westernized parts of Istanbul” rather than asserting the city’s central role in Islamic history and culture.
The Black Spot
On a wider stage, major European powers such as France and Germany have maintained their resistance to Turkey’s joining the EU, citing concerns about human rights (particularly in Kurdish regions on the Iraqi border) and the ongoing disagreement with Greece over Cypriot sovereignty.
In the spotlight, the European Parliament’s celebrations of the start of Istanbul’s year were largely attended by left-wing, liberal, and green members of European Parliament, with center-right and right-wing parliamentarians boycotting the event.
As for the future of culture in Istanbul, questions have also been raised over what the legacy of Istanbul 2010: European Capital of Culture will be.
As with many other cities that have held the title, critics have pointed out that holding a year-long cultural festival is one thing, but embedding this in the city’s fabric to enhance the access that the ordinary people of Istanbul have to culture and art is a much bigger challenge.
It remains to be seen whether Turkey’s planners can do a better job than in other great cities.