After the proclamation of the republic in 1923, western social structures were adopted that governed various aspects of social and spatial life in Turkey. The economic policies of nineteen thirties, along with policies regarding urbanization and public works carried out by the state during the following decades contributed to the social and spatial change of the country. Economic growth was regarded as a tool in turning Turkey into a modern state. In this context, Divriği Iron Mines Operation set up in 1938 contributed substantially to the urban life and modernization of the town of Divriği, whose population was until that time predominantly composed of peasantry. In Cürek, where mining took place, a new settlement was established for the workers and civil servants who worked for the Divriği Iron Mines Operation. Built on new, modern, and western patterns of everyday lives, the structures that governed the new settlement transformed people’s daily routines within social and cultural domains, in addition to economic ones. This study, based on the example of the Cürek Settlement, aims to highlight how state policies, investments, and regulations over patterns of macro structures and the microstructures of everyday lives were becoming interconnected in modernist perspectives of the era. Based on ethnographic survey of historical documents, interviews of employees and the local population, we aim to present how in particular this settlement had an effect over the lives in the region and how it could be seen as an example of similar projects in Turkey in general until the 1980s, the time at which many of the settlement were abandoned and evacuated.
Primary Language | English |
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Journal Section | Articles |
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Publication Date | June 16, 2022 |
Published in Issue | Year 2022Volume: 46 Issue: 1 |
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