Istanbul’s urban affects: Cosmopolitanism, secularism and ‘Islamopolis’

A colossal mosque, recently built by the current Islamic conservative government, now threateningly looms over Taksim Square where the memories of the Gezi Park protests silently mingle with the spirits of the Armenian cemetery lying beneath. The recent transformation of Istanbul’s historically most contested urban space, once recognized as Christian Pera, symbolically and also very intensely mirrors the latest backlash unleashed by ‘Islamopolis’ against the Ottoman cosmopolitanism and Turkish secularism, which are respectively framed as ‘urban affects’ in this article. Viewing the recent affective impact of Islamopolis as a scholarly invitation, I intend to revisit the urban origins of Istanbul’s Occupy encampment through the lenses of intersectional methodologies approaches and bourgeoning affect literature in urban studies.