438 Resisting Publics
and reallocating resources and providing services. New landmarks were
consequently proposed so that the state and its agents could be identi-
fied differently. Trees were planted by soldiers at the entry of the city, for
example, in an area bordering the road, interestingly renamed the “Forest
of Friendship” [Sevgi Ormanı]. In the main city center, the governor of the
province financed the construction of a monumental fountain in 2004,
decorated with epigraphs by well known Alevi thinkers. The greatest
homage, however, is to Atatürk, the hero of the national War of Liberation
(1919) and father of the Turkish Republic (1923). One of his 1923 say-
ings, reproduced on a large outdoor billboard, reminds passersby that
inhabitants of any part of the (then) newly conquered Turkish territory
are “all children of the same race.”^33 A more humble fountain, commis-
sioned by the chief of police in 2005, stands at the corner of the Square of
the Republic and celebrates the devotion of the police force towards the
inhabitants of Tunceli, with a plaque reading “A Warm Friendly Hand”
[Sıcak bir dost eli], part of the wider campaign, “Strong like Bronze,
Safe like Tunceli” [Tunç gibi sağlam, Tunceli gibi güvenli]^34 launched in
- Policewomen were also invited to become “voluntary mothers” of
orphaned children of Tunceli, thus committing themselves “to share their
problems and to contribute to their education, their psychological and
social development.”^35 On 8 March 2007 (International Women’s Day),
these same policewomen distributed carnations to female travelers dur-
ing traffic identity checks. In sum, this “postconflict” material production
of space aims at providing inhabitants with renewed categories through
which to interact with the state, its agents (as protector and provider),
and its surveillance devices (like the checkpoints). As such, it is an invita-
tion to a new type of coexistence, in which inhabitants are supposedly
interpellated through transformed categories, and are no longer lumped
together in the “potential terrorist” category.
onetheless, this state spatial production also constantly reminds N
them of their loyalty and duties as “true” Turkish citizens; it is intended
to implement categories to read the environment as well. The way local
authorities implemented the “Return to Villages” [Köye Dönüş] policy,
from 2004 on, is quite revealing on that matter: it clearly indicates respon-
sibilities, “proper” allegiances and consequently differentiates between
reliable and unreliable members of the community. In fact, anyone