Prologue, 1994
1993, one of the darkest chapters in Turkey's history, had just drawn to a close. The assassination of journalist Uğur Mumcu, the suspicious deaths of prominent figures like Eşref Bitlis, Adnan Kahveci, and Turgut Özal, the Ümraniye garbage dump disaster, the Bingöl and Başbağlar attacks, the horrific Sivas massacre, the closure of the People's Labour Party (HEP) and the subsequent stripping of immunity from its deputies, and Tansu Çiller's chilling statement, implying a hit list of Kurdish businesspeople accused of supporting the PKK, which would trigger a series of state-sponsored murders… This was, unfortunately, the grim reality of Turkey in 1993.
Yet, amidst this turmoil, the world was transforming at the end of the Cold War, and Turkey was experiencing a cultural and social awakening.
Tarkan, who released the album Aacayipsin, which sold over 2 million copies, invited the country to embrace "authenticity."
Organisations like Mor Çatı (Women’s Shelter Foundation), Kaos GL, and TİHV (Turkish Human Rights Foundation) were founded, Kalan Music and Aras Publishing opened their doors, and private television channels began broadcasting. The Human Rights Association and the Solidarity March Against Beatings paved the way for the new decade. Despite party closures, HADEP (People’s Democracy Party) was established, and women organised against war and racism, saying, “Don't Touch My Friend!”.
The population and expectations for rapid development and economic stability were growing. Prime Minister Tansu Çiller spearheaded a wave of privatisations and organised rallies supporting secularism.
Huge investments poured into tourism, a.k.a. the “chimneyless industry,” transforming the Aegean and Mediterranean coasts with a proliferation of five-star, all-inclusive resorts.
New mining sites were opening, and thermal power plants were under construction. Preliminary work on a nuclear power plant in Akkuyu also started this year.
The wave of migration to cities, driven partly by enforced disappearances, conflicts, and village burnings in the Southeast, peaked in 1994. This dramatically altered the landscape of urban life. That same year, the Welfare Party, which would later give rise to the AK Party, won control of numerous municipalities, including crucial victories in Istanbul and Ankara.
Fifteen years after a brutal coup, Turkey was undergoing a challenging process of democratisation and economic liberalisation under the shadow of the Copenhagen criteria for EU accession, which demanded democracy, the rule of law, human rights, respect for minorities, and protection of the market economy.
Freedom and human rights arrived hand-in-hand with capitalism and environmental destruction.
That same year, in June, the Heinrich Böll Stiftung opened its Turkey office in this building on Büyükparmakkapı Street in Beyoğlu, Istanbul.
1 – Authorization document taken from the Undersecretariat of Treasury and Foreign Trade for establishing the Heinrich Böll Stiftung Turkey office. 2 – In 1994, inflation was the primary economic concern in Turkey. This situation persists to this day. 3 – Melih Gökçek and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who won the mayoral elections in Ankara and Istanbul respectively for the Welfare Party in 1994, are photographed with the party’s chairman, Necmettin Erbakan. (AA) 4 – Nelson Mandela, leader of the ANC in South Africa, was released after 27 years of imprisonment, and the country held its first democratic elections. The events in South Africa later set an example for many peace negotiations, inspiring numerous civil organizations in Turkey in their efforts to address the Kurdish issue. 5 – Many NGOs, including Kaos GL, Mor Çatı, and the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey, which would later play a pivotal role in expanding and deepening civic space, began their activities in these years. The image shows the cover of the first issue of Kaos GL's magazine.