Reading corporatism through space and architecture: Ankara in the 1930s and 1940s

Although it is not well known, corporatism as an ideology has profoundly influenced world political history and the history of political thought. As a reactionary anti ideology, corporatism gains popularity with the promise of an alternative path against liberal capitalism and socialism, and with the ideal of a classless organic society. Growing stronger in the interwar period, corporatism has been effective in almost every regime in the world. Having influenced almost every ideology and national movement, corporatism is also an important determinant of Turkish modernisation. Corporatism, which has deeply influenced contemporary Turkish political history, establishes a problematic relationship between modernism and capitalism. However, the dominant political narrative analysing the Early Republican Era develops a linear narrative of Kemalist modernisation, treating Kemalism as a unique model of national development that was reconciled with modernism, facing the West, and positioned in the centre, only then conditionally accepting the influence of corporatist ideology. In reality, Kemalism as a corporatist ideology is a crucial determinant. Although the political, social, and economic manifestations of corporatism have been discussed to a limited extent in the related academic studies, its spatial manifestations and its understanding of property have been discussed very little. Yet, if a corporatism is to be mentioned, it will manifest itself in the analysis of space and architecture. In this study, the effects of the dominant corporatist ideology on space, housing and architectural policies will be analysed through the example of Ankara as a corporatist capital city and it will be shown that our modernisation journey corresponds to a corporatist modernisation. Keywords: Reactionary-Modernism, Kemalism, Corporatism, Garden-City, Ankara, Apartment