Between Destruction and Creation: The Case of Yeniköy
This article provides a critical assessment of neoliberal developmentalism in Turkey by addressing the socio-ecological costs of integrated mega-projects in the north of Istanbul. The study examines the case of Yeniköy (Arnavutköy, Istanbul), situated at the crossroads of the recently completed Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge (3rd Bosphorus Bridge), the Northern Marmara Motorway (KMO), and Istanbul Airport (3rd Airport), as well as the proposed Canal Istanbul Project (KIP). The “surplus value-creating city” approach, shaped by post-1980 neoliberal policies and reinforced by a tightly bound state-capital relationship, transforms the city into a commodity for the global market, where the “old” is dismantled and the “new” is constructed. In the process of transformation, the state mechanism aligns with free-market and trade principles, marked by interventions in regulatory frameworks, privatization, and a detached approach to social service sectors. Under this approach, urban space, highlighted as a financial resource generating profits through housing, transportation, and infrastructure projects, evolves into the execution ground for mega-projects due to the value ascribed to it. While these projects, intertwined with environmental damage and social injustice, have consequences such as deforestation and displacement, the bureaucracy presents them to the public as technological and “development achievements”. Urban space is thus subjected to a process of reproduction associated with an understanding of construction centered on continuous transformation. The study discusses the socio-ecological crises caused by large-scale infrastructure projects through issues such as land use, hasty expropriation, land speculation, property dispossession, housing crisis and displacement/resettlement.
Yıkmak ve Yaratmak Arasında: Yeniköy Örneği
Bu makale, İstanbul’un kuzeyindeki bütünleşik mega projelerin sosyo-ekolojik maliyetlerini ele alarak Türkiye’de neoliberal kalkınmacılığın eleştirel bir değerlendirmesini ortaya koyuyor. Çalışma, geçmiş yıllarda tamamlanmış olan Yavuz Sultan Selim Köprüsü (3. Boğaz Köprüsü), Kuzey Marmara Otoyolu (KMO) ve İstanbul Havaalanı (3. Havaalanı) ile tasarı aşamasındaki Kanal İstanbul Projesi (KİP) kesişiminde yer alan Yeniköy (Arnavutköy, İstanbul) örneğine odaklanıyor. 1980 sonrası neoliberal politikaların güdümlediği ve devlet-sermaye ilişkisinin sıkı sıkıya tutunduğu “artı değer yaratan kent” yaklaşımı, şehri küresel pazar için “eski”nin yok edilerek “yeni”nin yaratıldığı bir metaya dönüştürür. Dönüşüm sürecinde devlet mekanizması, serbest piyasa ve ticaret ilkelerine uyum sağlarken düzenleyici çerçevelere müdahaleler ve özelleştirmelerle birlikte sosyal hizmet alanlarına mesafeli bir yaklaşım sergiler. Bu yaklaşım doğrultusunda konut, ulaşım ve altyapı projeleri üzerinden kazanç sağlanan bir finans kaynağı olarak öne çıkan kentsel mekân, yüklendiği değer sonucu mega projelerin uygulama alanına evrilir. Çevresel zarar ve toplumsal adaletsizlikle iç içe geçmiş bu projeler ormansızlaşma ve yerinden etme gibi sonuçlar barındırırken bürokrasi bu projeleri birer teknoloji ve “kalkınma başarısı” olarak kamuya sunar. Kentsel mekân, böylece, sürekli dönüşüm odaklı bir inşa anlayışı ile ilişkili yeniden üretim sürecine tâbi tutulur. Çalışma, büyük ölçekli altyapı projelerinin zemin hazırladığı sosyo-ekolojik krizleri arazi kullanımı, acele kamulaştırma, arsa spekülasyonu, mülkiyet/mülksüzleştirme, barınma krizi ve yerinden edilme/yeniden yerleştirme gibi meseleler üzerinden tartışmaya açmaktadır.
With a focus on the case of Yeniköy (Arnavutköy, Istanbul), a village on the northern outskirts of Istanbul, this study explores the socio-ecological costs that four mega projects -the Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge (3rd Bosphorus Bridge), the Northern Marmara Motorway (KMO), Istanbul Airport (3rd Airport), Canal Istanbul Project (KIP)- have imposed on the socio-physical landscape. In doing so, it critiques mega projects as public-private partnerships driven by a neoliberal developmentalist approach, revealing how significantly they disrupt social and ecological contexts.
In terms of settlement history, Yeniköy is an exchange village founded in 1923 by people resettled through forced migration under the Convention on the Exchange of Greek and Turkish Populations, an additional protocol to the Treaty of Lausanne. The village, rich in fertile soil, water, and forest ecosystems, is home to diverse habitats and rare endemic species. It also contains mineral resources, making it rich in underground reserves. The villagers’ livelihoods are traditionally based on agriculture, animal husbandry, buffalo breeding, poultry farming, and fishing. However, the presence of mining companies has occasionally provided opportunities for villagers to work as laborers in these industries.
The neoliberalization process in Istanbul began especially after 1980, with numerous projects implemented or planned being strongly supported by public administration and capital. The urban space’s evolving function as a site of land reproduction has inevitably led to interventions affecting both private and public property, alongside socio-ecological destruction. These interventions, carried out under the guise of creative destruction, are significant due to the socio-ecological costs they impose on the spaces they target. In Yeniköy, some residents have been forced to abandon their livelihoods, losing forested, wetland, agricultural, and pasture areas due to these mega projects.
Mining and airport construction can also be cited as sources of socio-ecological costs. While mining is often associated with industrialization and development, its relevance here lies in its connection to the 3rd Airport project. In terms of land use, Yeniköy contains sand, pebbles, and depleted lignite deposits. Previously, villagers used these water formations for activities like fishing, but these resources were destroyed during airport construction. Furthermore, sand extraction from the Black Sea for the airport project disrupted villagers’ use of the sea for swimming. Ultimately, mining activities and airport construction not only displaced flora and fauna, disrupting ecosystem balances, but also contributed to greenhouse gas emissions, potentially accelerating climate change.
The final socio-ecological cost explored in this study relates to property and dispossession. Neoliberal urban policies, guided by the rhetoric of “development” and “growth,” privatize public property while publicizing private property through mega projects. However, property is not merely a matter of technical implementation; it is a social relationship as well as a legal and economic concept with unique meanings for different communities. For instance, hasty expropriation decisions for the Third Airport (Istanbul Airport) have disrupted villagers’ livelihoods through land use restrictions, displacement, and relocation processes. Even when revised decisions, such as repurposing land as cemeteries, are made, they destabilize social belonging by altering memory spaces and reevaluating public spaces.
When viewed as both a social conflict and a process of negotiation, the property issue -especially in the context of decisions related to projects like Canal Istanbul- has created legal uncertainty, undermined social consensus, and strained social relationships, such as those between neighbors. On both a local and macro scale, projects like the 3rd Bosphorus Bridge, KMO, the 3rd Airport, and KIP are reshaping not only northern Istanbul but the city’s macro form. This transformation, when considered alongside southern projects like the Eurasia Tunnel and Marmaray, demonstrates that developmentalist projects, which claim to prioritize human welfare, paradoxically displace not only human communities but entire ecosystems in this geography.
