🟡 Yunt Talks #7: Latife Tekin

The city, which has been the representation area of civilization since ancient times, appears as a phenomenon whose borders become blurred with the constant change of the physical and social environment. Dynamics such as construction and infrastructure activities, population mobility, environmental sustainability concerns, economic developments and technological advances make it necessary to think about the city. The complex structure of the city shaped by different dynamics brings with it the need to redefine the city. Making this definition has the potential to both understand continuity and changes and project the future of the city while evaluating the development of the city from past to present.

 "Where is the City?" by YUNT The talk program titled "Rethinking the Boundaries of the City" , which started to be prepared within the scope of the exhibition, continues throughout the "The Unseen City" exhibition. Prof. Dr. In the sessions to be moderated by Eva Şarlak, it is aimed to popularize the practices of thinking about the city.

 Within the scope of the speech program, speakers will discuss the city's borders from different aspects. Each session will take place under a separate subheading and a reading recommendation will be shared with the participants before the session.

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 Latife Tekin shares her thoughts on the impact of internal migration on cities in the notes she shared before the speech:

 'Of course, we as a society could use the energy created by the great internal migration in a positive way, I am talking about the energy of the times when so many people dreamed the same dream. In Turkey's modernization process, the labor of peasant immigrants was needed and they were also asked to be invisible like fairies. I am sure that if the state supported these people's efforts to settle in the city, they would have built their houses much more beautifully. If their legal rights had not been violated, Istanbul would not have turned into such an ugly apartment hell. If the existence of these people had been tolerated and they had been told where to build their houses, they could have settled in the city in a calmer and more planned way, as they were exposed to violence. They penetrated the piece of land they captured, out of sight. Unfortunately, most of the Turkish intellectuals and architects attacked the slums with distaste. "I think what is happening is an indication of the evil and violence done to those people, and today's ugliness is the response to the violence committed against them."

 Resume

 Latife Tekin was born in Kayseri in 1957. He came to Istanbul with his family when he was nine years old. His first book , Dear Cheeky Death, was published in 1983. Then Berci Kristin Garbage Tales (1984), Night Lessons (1986), Ice Swords (1989), Love Signs (1995), “Gümüşlük Akademi” (story, 1997), There Is No Death in the Forest (2001), for which he won the Sedat Simavi Award. His novels named Unutma Bahcesi (2004), Muinar (2006), Manves City , Drift (2018) and Timeless (2022), his children's book, Dreams and Uyanışlar Notebook , were published in 2009, and his children's book, Children of Altınçayır Valley , was published in 2020. Awarded with the 2019 Erdal Öz Literature Award, Latife Tekin's novels, described as the magical legacy of Turkish that will remain for the future, have been translated into many languages, including English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Dutch and Persian.