Visitors to Istanbul’s Beyoğlu district this weekend will see İstiklal Avenue decked out with twinkling lights, but they should keep in mind the famous Shakespearean quote: “All that glitters is not gold.”

The decorations and the massive stage set up in Taksim Square are just glimpses of the activities that Istanbul residents will see this weekend as part of the official opening ceremonies of Istanbul as a European Capital of Culture.

Organized in seven districts in the city, there will be several theater, dance and music events, including a concert by pop star Tarkan.

State Minister Hayati Yazıcı, who is also chairman of the Istanbul 2010 European Capital of Culture agency, said recently the 2010 projects would bring Istanbul many tourists as well as make the city visible on international platforms.

Yet, what exactly are these projects, organized with a budget of 800 million Turkish Liras, going to do for the city’s cultural tourism?

“Most of the agency’s projects are temporary events that will not last into 2011,” said architect Ömer Kanıpak, who served on the agency’s executive board but later resigned. “For example, there are many restoration projects being established with the agency’s budget. Instead of quickly putting makeup on the city, they should have set up a restoration institute,” he told the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review.

“Being the European Capital of Culture actually means producing sustainable projects as well as raising awareness of residents and visitors about the city and its cultural potential,” said Neslihan Albayrak, a museologist who wrote her master’s thesis on the agency’s projects. “Cultural tourism is definitely an important issue too, but that is not the main purpose of this program. The important thing is to raise society’s level of culture, which cannot be done by organizing short term projects,” she told the Daily News.

Glorification of the past

The Capital of Culture agency is organizing 467 projects in the city throughout the year. Running under the category of arts, cultural heritage, urban implementations, tourism and several others, the total budget for these projects is 374.5 million liras, according to the agency’s Web site. Statistics show that 70 percent of these projects are devoted to the renovation and restoration of cultural heritage sites, including the Topkapı Palace and Hagia Sophia.

“The reason that restoration projects have taken up this much space and budget is because of the state’s approach to recognizing culture as the reconstruction and glorification of the past,” said Urban Implementations Director Korhan Gümüş. “Most of these restoration projects are run by the state ideology, as if they are simple construction projects and closed to the creative mind. The restoration of Istanbul’s city walls is a great example.”

Indeed, a month ago the city walls’ restoration project, run through the agency, opened up a major controversy. When the decision to run the project was decided through a bid, many non-governmental organizations, architects and academics raised their voices claiming that restoration should be conducted using the advice of experts rather than through a bid.

Yet another controversy surrounding the agency was in regards to the restoration of Taksim’s milestone AKM building, home to the performing arts. After a long dispute between NGOs and state officials about whether it should be renovated, re-built or restored, the building’s future is still unknown today.

Gümüş, who has been involved in the process of Istanbul becoming the European Capital of Culture since 2000 and who represents the NGO side of the argument, stressed the difficulties of collaborating with state officials.

“With the Capital of Culture process, the dominance of the state over culture was opened to a more democratic approach,” he said. “Yet, it has not been easy. Our democratic approach was overshadowed by the state’s technocracy and privately funded commercial models.”

The process has also been a dead end for many. So far, all members that represented the NGOs on the agency’s executive board have resigned from their positions for such reasons. Faruk Pekin from the Cultural Awareness Foundation is one of them.

“The administrative structure of the agency was left to state officials,” Pekin said in his resignation statement. "Those people do not approach the projects as if they are cultural projects. The agency has become an arm of the state.”

Yet, some people are more moderate toward the issue.

“It has been a learning process,” said Kanıpak. “I think [the opportunity] could have been used better, but I also think the expectations were overblown.”

“Istanbul’s culture capital process has brought up a question that no other European city could, and that is the process of modernization,” said Gümüş. “Before, the definition of a cultural capital was set in terms of belonging to the European nation-states. But with Istanbul it has shifted to an awareness of modernization.” Other Capitals Istanbul is not the only 2010 European Capital of Culture. Essen in Germany and Pécs in Hungary are also holding the title.

“The idea of the European Capital of Culture started in 1985,” said Neslihan Albayrak. “In 1999, it was decided that countries not part of the EU could be nominated for the title between the years of 2005 to 2019.”

In her thesis, Albayrak focuses on five previous culture capital cities, including Glasgow, Rotterdam, Thessalonica, Dublin and Luxembourg. Her thesis stresses the recognition of culture as an investment. “Dublin and Glasgow were two example cities that focused more on industries.

Yet with the culture capital program they re-structured themselves and brought their cultural aspects forward with sustainable projects,” she said. “In the beginning, Istanbul aimed for such sustainability, but we will see whether it will happen or not in the following years. For sure we will see the agency’s logo on many events this year. Yet, opening an exhibition and organizing events does not mean everything. More important is who these events are communicating to and how.”

The sustainability of culture projects is hard to judge and debates are sure to continue through Istanbul’s turn as a culture capital. Only long after 2010 will the city see how much gold is truly in its glitter. Until then, visit Beyoğlu and enjoy the lights.