ABSTRACT
Kuzguncuk gives the impression of being physically straitjacketed by its human geography. In immediate indignant response Kuzguncuk was festooned with the national flag for days afterwards, criss-crossing streets, obscuring the merchandise in shop windows, hanging off balconies, even fluttering on the rusty pole sticking out at right angles over the gateway to the mosque. The radicalization of segments of the labour force resulting from the liberalization of the economy too is important, as is the ability of the state to lock in the loyalty of workers whose 'hold on citizenship has been dependent on jobs in manufacturing and other sectors protected and subsidized by national economic managers'. Talk of a ‘global city’ may be misleading, unless the uneven processes of actual factory development, service operations, and sites of investment are seen as one of its hallmarks. The Refah Party managed to exchange the Hittite Sun symbol of the greater city council for one featuring a mosque and citadel.
