Istanbul as the Symbolic Space of the Neo-Ottomanist Narrative: Nostalgia, Romanticism and Domestic Imperial Greed

This chapter focuses on the symbolic and emotional manifestations of Neo-Ottomanist narrativesnarrative on space. As one of the leading symbols of Neo-Ottomanism, Istanbul has always had a significant value for the Islamic conservative tradition and has been instrumentalized as a site of emotional and financial investment under AKP rule. The Islamic dream of reconquering the city has been realised through interventions in the abstract and concrete textures of the city. In this chapter I analyse the AKP’s symbolicsymbolic politics reconquest of Istanbul, which mainly derived from ontological ressentiment, urge for revenge, nostalgia, romanticism and imperial greed.