Turkey in Red

Istanbul is not the first place we associate with revolution. Paris, 1968, maybe, or east Berlin, circa 1989. Given Turkey’s continued economic growth and strategic importance, it was inevitable that it would become a site of international leftist activity, not just that of domestic political organizations.

This sticker, affixed to a newspaper box in Kreuzberg, a heavily Turkish neighborhood in central Berlin, is one such example. Advertising an anti-IMF/World Bank gathering in Istanbul in the Fall of 2009, its presence is a reflection of how integrated Turkey has become in the minds and the politics of the West.

Photograph courtesy of Joel Schalit