THE TENDENCY OF SLUMIZATION IN THE GECEKONDU: THE EXAMPLE OF MERSIN PROVINCE
In this paper, gecekondu's slumization process has been described through the example of Mersin province. The subject which was dealt with can be called as the space-culture crisis of the modern society. Although the integration of different fractions of society is predicted in the modernization theories, the disintegration processes are gradually deepening especially in the big metropolis. The gecekondus which spread over the cities after the 1950s have become the space of the losers, although initially, they have harbored the hopes for holding on to the city for the social groups which have recently come from the rural areas. Within this context, the gecekondus are "slumizing." On the one hand, new self-interested capitalistic relations and the increasing poverty; on the other hand, new alignments which can be of an ethnic, sectarian or class character both are dissolving the traditional gecekondu structure. Gecekondus have started to be referred as both poverty pools which harbor unqualified labor-power and criminal districts in which the activities such as violence, theft or drugs are concentrated. The sense of belonging to space gradually vanishes in gecekondus. Now, after this observation, we have tried to describe the slumization tendency in Mersin gecekondus based on a survey which has been applied to 250 dwellings.

Keywords
Urbanization, Social Change, Gecekondu, Slum.