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| Relocation: Roma families that have lived in the Sulukule quarter of Istanbul (image 1) will be relocated to modern suburban
apartment blocks (image 2) 25 miles away. Yigal Schleifer |
Istanbul gentrifies a 1,000-year-old Roma neighborhood
'Ottoman villas' are going up, and the world's oldest Roma settlement is moving out – to suburban apartments.
from the June 9, 2008 edition
Page 2 of 3
Certainly, Sulukule's residents defy the stereotype of the rootless Roma. Adrian Marsh, an Istanbul-based researcher, says a Roma presence in the area can be traced to 1054, making it the oldest gypsy settlement in Europe, if not the world.
"Historically it is different than other Roma settlements. Sulukule was always seen by the Ottomans as a kind of fixed community, unlike other gypsy communities that were seen as more nomadic. Other gypsy communities in Turkey and Europe were not so settled," he says.
There are an estimated 3 million to 5 million Roma in Turkey, the world's largest Roma community. Although they have faced less discrimination than in other European countries, Roma in Turkey remain an economic and social underclass. Turkish dictionaries only a few years ago removed the words "tout" and "cheap" from the definition for the word "gypsy."
Mustafa Demir, mayor of Istanbul's Fatih district, which includes Sulukule, describes the renewal plan as a kind of social project meant to benefit the local population.
"The main goal of this project is to allow the people living in this area to have a lifestyle that is in line with the 21st century and with Istanbul being the 2010 European Capital of Culture. We are offering them something more advantageous," the mayor, a former dentist, says during an interview in his office.
Plans for the new Sulukule include a cultural center that will teach Roma music and dance, as well as a hotel where Roma musicians will provide the entertainment, says Dr. Demir. Property owners, meanwhile, are being compensated financially and offered the opportunity to buy one of the new villas at prices between $114,000 and $130,000.
"Their way of life will be maintained, for sure. There is nothing for them to be worried about," he says.
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But critics of the project believe Sulukule's residents have a lot to worry about. The neighborhood is only one of many, mostly poor areas that are being "transformed" in the swiftly developing city, frequently with devastating results for the original inhabitants, says Korhan Gumus, an architect and urban planner.
"The application of these urban transformation projects has sometimes been very cruel, very unequal. The weak political actors are being pushed aside," he says. "In this model of [urban renewal], there is no social program or rehabilitation. There are only market operations."
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