Kamil Pasha

Photo from Turkish Daily News

According to news reports, the thousand-year old Romani (gypsy) Sulukule neighborhood that dates back to Byzantium has become a site of despair as more and more houses are torn down with many residents given only 24-hour notice. (70 houses have been demolished so far.) An urban transformation project will replace the existing houses with middle-class villas and tourist facilities. Displaced residents are living in tents on the streets, their children no longer able to go to school. Since 63 percent are illiterate, many are unable to provide documentation for length of residence that would give them the right to a replacement dwelling; the municipality did not accept the testimony of witnesses. Many residents also are unemployed since the popular places of music and entertainment that used to provide the Romani with income were closed down by the municipality in 1992. At one point 300 musicians lived in Sulukule, which had developed its own musical styles.

From today’s news article: A woman was running around, crying and screaming. “Is this the way a state takes care of its citizens? Even the United States has heard our cries but our own government ignores us,” said Sevtap Gazala, 46, alluding to the letter send by U.S. Congress members to the prime minister asking for the suspension of demolitions. After she was asked to abandon her home within 24 hours, Gazala threw her belongings into the fire in reaction. Stating their children do not want to go to school fearing they might not find their homes standing when they return and that the number of sick people is increasing daily, [Erdogan] Dalkiran said, “being homeless is added to being unemployed. We sleep on empty stomachs most nights and we wake up to the sound of bulldozers.” … Dalkiran: “There are bulldozed houses, wrecks, homeless people sheltered by their neighbors or relatives, orphans left on streets. People are devastated both physically and spiritually.”

What struck me in the article was that the Fatih District mayor, Mustafa Demir, who seems oblivious to the great human cost, told the news reporter that if any historic assets are found, the whole project would change, the work would stop and the site would be turned into a historical excavation site immediately. “We care about our history and historic assets. We can never ignore them. We would change the project and open the site to visitors,” Demir said. (for the article, click here)

My thought is that someone should go and bury some historical objects in Sulukule immediately.

Tags: Culture, Istanbul, Rights //