A Bridge That Turks Refuse to Cross

What was a left-wing rock idol doing here at a recent gathering with Islamist politicians and struggling fishermen?

They--along with hundreds of others, a fair cross-section of Istanbul’s 9 million people--were rallying against government plans for a new bridge across the Bosporus.

Some live in the historic neighborhood that would be torn up for the half-mile suspension bridge over the waterway. But the movement has also drawn support from political leaders, singers, actors, writers, scholars and others from across the city.

“What is unusual is that we’re resisting at all,” rock singer Nejat Yavasogullari said.

He has a point. A generation after the army overthrew a civilian government and crushed street fighting between right- and left-wing students, at a cost of thousands of lives, Turks are still reluctant to join in any organized challenge to the state. Those who do, be they Islamists seeking the right to wear head scarves in public buildings or Kurds demanding schooling in their own language, usually face arrest.

The “Say No to the Bridge” campaign reflects a new willingness among Turks to stand up to the government, at least on issues that don’t touch on ethnic, religious or ideological controversies.

“People are no longer willing to permit the government to impose its will in a way that has a negative impact on their daily lives, and this bridge will do just that,” said Faruk Birtek, a sociology professor at Istanbul’s Bosporus University.

Birtek lives in Arnavutkoy, a fishing village that has been swallowed by the urban sprawl straddling Europe and Asia. One end of the new bridge would rest in Arnavutkoy, on the European side of the Bosporus, and the other in Kandilli, one of the city’s Asian suburbs.

“At least 250 homes and shops will be destroyed here,” said Ozden Danisman, a member of an Arnavutkoy residents group opposed to the bridge project.

The bridge was planned by Turkey’s Transportation Ministry as a way to ease traffic congestion. Two bridges already cross the Bosporus, and it takes more than an hour to navigate either during rush hour, compared with five minutes during off-peak hours.

But ministry officials in Ankara, the capital, are at a loss to explain why they chose to run the new bridge through one of Istanbul’s most beautiful neighborhoods.

Set in a narrow valley that rises sharply from the waterway, Arnavutkoy--which means Albanian village--is one of the few areas of Istanbul that retains its original character. It was named by Albanians who settled here during the 15th century, when their homeland and other Balkan states were under Ottoman Turkish rule. About 5,300 people live in the village today, including 250 ethnic Greeks, Armenians and Jews and the U.S. consul general.

Many of the elaborate wooden houses that would be destroyed for the bridge were built by ethnic Greeks more than a century ago and are labeled historical sites, a government designation that ironically requires an owner to get special permission before altering or tearing down a structure.

Hundreds of “Say No to the Bridge” posters have sprouted up around the neighborhood, along with pamphlets detailing the bridge’s potential damage. As soon as the government announces a tender for construction, the movement plans to oppose it in court.

Foes of the bridge project propose an underwater subway tunnel and a revival of Bosporus ferries to ease the traffic problem.

Their campaign appears to be gaining steam. The city’s Islamist mayor, Ali Mufit Gurtuna, and major national newspapers now support it. The bridge planners appear to be balking; no one has stepped forward lately to defend the project.

“It’s only a proposal,” said Yasar Topcu, the former transportation minister who is believed to have given the bridge the initial go-ahead. “Nothing final has been decided.”