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This article studies the violent politics of stigmatisation and erasure of nationalist urban infrastructure. In general, urban infrastructure is a mechanism of state power. But, through the case of the imposing presence of Turkish nationalist infrastructure in the Kurdish city Diyarbakir, it demonstrates that when tied to an antagonistic nationalist political project, this infrastructure is often purposefully built to violently cleanse urban spaces of the national "other". Be it a statue, a mural or a picture of a nationalist leader – this infrastructure is incapable of inflicting physical pain. Nonetheless, its violence is symbolic and meant to have a real effect on Diyarbakir's Kurds' ability and willingness to identify as Kurds. That said, violence does not entirely inform the spatial experience of those targeted by this nationalist infrastructure. The article demonstrates that Kurdish residents also found ways of remaining unaffected, even treating the infrastructure laden with Turkish nationalist iconography as a reminder of their own Kurdish identity. This article thus expands our understanding of what nationalist infrastructure does. It may be designed to be violent. However, it also reveals itself to be a site of contestation – equally inspiring the persistence of the counter-narrative of the national "other". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article argues that in the interwar period, the Turkish government subjected Ottoman cities to various forms of spatial planning aimed at modernizing but also ethnically homogenizing them. It draws on untapped sources to portray how the regime saw this “modernization” as a panacea that would bring the country up to par with European “civilization.” In the ideological universe of the regime, a perfect society could be forged by design and coercion. As a result, the multiethnic cities of Turkey became the object of high-modernist utopias of spatial planning and urban redesign. These policies were also aimed at erasing Ottoman cities’ multiethnic pasts and crafting a “healthy” Turkish population. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]