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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 3 of 3
Despite the municipality's assurances, locals and activists say simple economics make it impossible for Sulukule's residents to remain. The average neighborhood income is $320 per month, meaning few families can afford to either rent or buy in the rebuilt Sulukule.
Hacer Foggo, a member of the Sulukule Platform, a group working on behalf of residents, believes that out of 1,000 families living there, only 50 will remain.
Inside his tiny market on one of Sulukule's side streets, Mehmet Asim Hallac tends to a steady stream of small children buying candy. At one point, a woman comes in to buy a few scoops of sugar, for which she pays the equivalent of 50 cents.
"You think she will be able to buy a small amount of sugar like that in the supermarket out where they want to move us to? You think they will let her buy it if she's a few cents short?" asks the barrel-chested and bearded Mr. Hallac.
"The people living here are citizens of Turkey. Is it a crime for a Turkish citizen to demand to have their lives improved without losing their culture and their community?" he continues.
• • •
Back at his teahouse office, Punduk says that fighting the municipality has replaced music as his main occupation. He's even contemplating entering politics: "Something has to happen to improve the situation here, definitely. We've been saying that for years.
"This urban transformation plan originally sounded like salvation to us, but why does it not involve keeping the original people here, renovating their homes and giving them the means to live here?"
Asked if there's room for the Roma in a gentrified Istanbul, the normally fast-talking Punduk goes quiet.
"There's no room for us in the new Turkey. If they thought there was a place for us, they would renovate this place and let us stay," he says, after a long pause. "We want to live here. This place belongs to us."
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