VZCZCXRO7921
RR RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHDA RUEHDBU RUEHDF RUEHFL RUEHIK RUEHKW RUEHLA
RUEHLN RUEHLZ RUEHROV RUEHSR RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHAK #0430/01 0581146
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 271146Z FEB 07 ZDK PER NUM SVCS
FM AMEMBASSY ANKARA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 1107
INFO RUEHIT/AMCONSUL ISTANBUL 2206
RUEHDA/AMCONSUL ADANA 1692
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC
RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ANKARA 000430 
 
SIPDIS 
 
TREASURY FOR JONATHAN ROSE 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EAID SOCI PHUM PGOV ECON TU
SUBJECT: ANKARA'S MAMAK DISTRICT: VOICES OF ANKARA'S HAVE NOTS 
 
Ref: (A) Ankara 6580 (B) Istanbul 0015 
 
ANKARA 00000430  001.8 OF 002 
 
 
¶1.  (SBU) Summary.  A visit to one of Ankara's oldest squatter 
settlements provided insight into the multiple challenges Turkey 
faces in dealing with its endemic squatter housing problem, which is 
linked to persistent regional income disparities and the country's 
deep urban and rural poverty.  Residents of the Mamak district told 
us the GOT's efforts to move people out of single-story squatter 
dwellings into high rise apartments may, among other things, 
diminish contact between different religious and ethnic groups that 
currently live in -- and get along with each other in -- the city's 
many "gecekondus."  Residents also worry whether the municipality 
will make good on earlier promises regarding title deeds and 
apartment sizes.  The recent construction of a giant mosque in a 
predominantly Alevi neighborhood of Mamak has angered many residents 
and could highlight political differences among ethnic groups during 
parliamentary elections later this year.  End Summary. 
 
 
---------------------------------------- 
A TALE OF TWO NEIGHBORS: ALEVI AND SUNNI 
---------------------------------------- 
 
¶2. (SBU) Mamak, an impoverished district of northeast Ankara with 
approximately 500,000 inhabitants, is representative of the 
capital's numerous squatter settlements, and to a large degree 
mirrors the cultural diversity of Turkey in general.  Over the past 
fifteen years, Bilkent Political Science Professor Tahire Erman has 
spent thousands of hours in Ankara's squatter areas, predominantly 
in the Mamak district, interviewing hundreds of residents and 
researching squatter issues ranging from migrant residents' 
perceptions of urban living to the effects of social exclusion of 
squatter youth.  While visiting a predominantly Alevi neighborhood 
of Mamak, Erman introduced Econoff to two Mamak families, one Sunni 
and one Alevi, with whom she has established close ties during the 
course of her research. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Although large parts of the Mamak district have been 
transformed slowly from mainly single-story residences to uniform 
apartment complexes over the past five years, the area we visited 
retained a distinctive village-like quality.  Nestled among similar 
crude dwellings and perched on the edge of the Imrahar Valley, a 
modern Ankara skyline visible in the distance, the Sunni family's 
modest single-story residence previously housed an Alevi family as 
well.  Sharing a wood burning stove and kitchen area, each family 
enjoyed small separate living quarters until the Alevi family moved 
to a nearby rental property last year.  The Alevis' new landlord 
uses rental income from two squatter properties to finance monthly 
payments on the apartment she purchased, a common trend among former 
squatters. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Stricken recently with bone cancer, the Sunni mother of two 
small kids reflected on her good fortune to have a husband with a 
regular monthly salary and a father-in-law employed as a gardener at 
the municipality.  Her husband pays out-of-pocket for her 
chemotherapy at a private doctor's office, an expense not covered by 
social security.  Relying on the generosity of neighbors and her 
elderly mother to assist with child care and cooking, she remained 
nevertheless optimistic about her family's future.  The Alevi mother 
of a teenage girl expressed a desire to establish a women's caf in 
the neighborhood, as a counterpart to the traditional men's tea 
houses, for socializing and to promote women's issues.  As the wife 
a taxi driver whose husband pays more than half his income to her 
uncle who owns the taxi, she supplements their household income by 
selling hand-made purses and socks. 
 
¶5. (SBU) No longer housemates, the Alevi and Sunni families 
nevertheless remain close, and despite their divergent political and 
religious views (the Alevi community in Mamak tend to support 
left-of-center secularist parties while the Sunni generally support 
the ruling Justice and Development Party), a common respect was 
evident.  Strictly observant Muslims, the Sunni female household 
members openly discussed the propriety of their uncovered Alevi 
counterparts, comments the Alevi women merely shrugged off with a 
smile.  Professor Erman noted that being a good neighbor was 
generally the norm in the squatter areas she has researched, and 
that close ties among families in places like Mamak often transcend 
ethnic and religious identities.  Living in close proximity to one 
another with minimal privacy creates a sense of community that 
residents and academics fear will be lost through the construction 
of high rise apartment buildings. 
 
-------------------------------------- 
TRANSFORMATION NOT WITHOUT CONTROVERSY 
-------------------------------------- 
 
¶6. (SBU) The target of urban improvement projects in the late 1990s, 
 
ANKARA 00000430  002.8 OF 002 
 
 
Mamak has undergone gradual transformation.  Surveying the various 
neighborhoods, Professor Erman pointed to new eight-story apartment 
buildings where until a year ago there had been traditional squatter 
residences.  Erman noted that Mamak was abuzz over title deeds and 
apartment sizes after Ankara's mayor spoke to residents in 2002, at 
which time there was strong opposition to rumored plans for all 
residents to receive the same size apartments.  Erman explained that 
because the plot sizes were fixed pursuant to the municipality's 
development plan, squatters must agree on the number of apartments 
to which each family is entitled prior to construction of new 
buildings, and achieving consensus among residents has been 
problematic. 
 
¶7. (SBU) The principal authority in the neighborhood is the muhtar, 
elected to a five-year term and responsible for supervising the 
planning and operation of communal projects and services as well as 
the administration of directives from higher authorities.  Although 
an Alevi from a Kurdish region in Turkey, the elected muhtar with 
whom we met keeps his personal origin to himself, describing it as 
potentially divisive.  He and several of the local elders commented 
on the recent construction of an enormous mosque a stone's throw 
from the muhtar's office, explaining that the mosque's owner, a 
local contractor involved in several squatter transformation 
projects, apparently erected the mosque in an attempt to transform 
the composition of the neighborhood from Alevi to Sunni. 
 
¶8. (SBU) The mosque's construction has angered many long-time Alevi 
residents who resent attempts to create discord among Sunni and 
Alevi neighbors who have lived peacefully alongside one another for 
decades.  Professor Erman commented that tensions ran high among 
residents during previous parliamentary elections because the Sunni 
and Alevi neighbors tended to be at opposite ends of the political 
spectrum.  She feared that the mosque controversy might heighten 
tensions among residents during parliamentary elections later this 
year. 
 
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COMMENT 
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¶9. (SBU) While local governments have begun to implement measures to 
address squatter housing through large-scale urban renewal projects, 
they have largely ignored the social aspect of the squatter 
phenomenon in Turkey.  Razing single-story houses in favor of 
high-rise apartments essentially destroys the village-like communal 
atmosphere squatters create in large urban centers such as Ankara. 
Opportunities for social networking among members of different 
ethnic and religious communities will diminish as families move to 
apartments, and this could increase tensions among these groups down 
the road.  The destruction of communal space in squatter areas is 
designed to end the proliferation of unregulated, untitled housing. 
It is likely to reduce the clear sense of community and 
interdependence that exist in neighborhoods like the one we visited, 
perhaps condemning squatter residents to a more isolated, anonymous 
future. 
#WILSON