The counterinsurgent urban governance in postwar Diyarbakır: political securitisation alongside criminal insecurities

In the 2015–16 urban war, starting with the declarations of self-governance in the Kurdish region of Turkey, Sur, Diyarbakır became one of the primary urban fronts in the armed conflict between the Turkish state forces and the PKK. Yet, the systematic subjugation of the low-income Kurdish population in postwar Diyarbakır has not remained limited to Sur. In 2020, the Kaynartepe neighbourhood of Old Bağlar was declared ‘risky’ based on ‘disruption of public order or security’ and opened for urban transformation despite the absence of a self-governance declaration in 2015 or noticeable political activities since 2017. Moreover, despite intense policing of the neighbourhood since 2017, the area has become even more ‘dangerous’, notably with an increase in drug-related activities. This article examines these dynamics in Kaynartepe, in the context of counterinsurgent urban governance in postwar Diyarbakır, to argue that heavy securitisation and determination of ‘risk’ have paradoxically created an (in)securitised space, preventing political mobilisation while deepening social marginalisation of the Kaynartepe communities. Relying on findings from ethnographic fieldwork, I analyse counterinsurgent urban governance in ‘risky’ Kaynartepe from two perspectives: 1) securitisation of space and determination of political ‘risk’, and 2) spatial, social and political dilapidation in the face of criminalisation.