Once upon a time Sulukule
Once upon a time Sulukule
We translated Nilay Vardar's article.
While walking along the ramparts in Fatih district, I see the “Ottoman Houses” with a signboard of TOKÝ and Özkar construction, this is the former Sulukule neighborhood.
My question “How can I go to Sulukule” is replied to with a bold answer; “Why? Would you buy a house here? I have two houses to sell if you want, 400 thousand TL each.”
The urban regeneration project in Sulukule which has caused the eviction of 5,500 people so far is about to end now. Villas allocated to only 50 Sulukule residents will be delivered by mid-March with a drawing of lots. Prices of new houses are said to have reached 600 thousand TL.
Three experts said that ‘the project doesn’t protect the historical fabric’.
The project is also found unlawful by the report prepared within the scope of the lawsuit that Sulukule Association of the Romany and neighborhood residents in 2007 filed to Fatih Municipality and the Ministry of Culture for the cancellation of the project.
While the first expert report didn’t deem the project suitable for the protective reconstruction plan, the second expert report also didn’t find the constructions suitable for the public weal and for the historical fabric protection purposes of the law no 5366.
The third expert report was prepared when the Municipality and the Ministry objected to this decision claiming that they had revised the project. However, the result is the same again; the project is not lawful because of the fact that no amendments have been made in the project.
The second expert report said that;
*The Preliminary Project halved the Rampart Protection Band determined by UNESCO.
* The island morphology and street fabric weren’t protected.
*The public areas were opened to structuring, street profiles were extended within the scope of the project.
*No place was given to green areas and parks.
*The structure typology isn’t suitable for the present street fabric and registered structures.
The Association lawyer Hilal Küey says that; “All three expert reports have found the project unlawful. The court could have ruled stay of execution even after the first report, but it didn’t. The constructions are about to finish and the court is supposed to cancel the project now.”
If the court rules that the project should be cancelled, the Municipality will have to work on a new lawful project.
On the other hand, the Association and several residents of the neighborhood appealed to the ECHR in May of 2010 as the process took longer than expected and they didn’t want to wait any more.
The case against Turkey was opened on the grounds that the project violated the right to fair trial, didn’t protect private life and discriminated against the Romany. Apart from exceptional circumstances, the ECHR normally doesn’t accept cases unless the means of internal law remain inconclusive.
The Court agreed to examine this file as the Sulukule case is also an example of exceptional circumstances. Lawyer Küey is quite hopeful about the result as this decision could set an example to the victims of other urban regeneration projects in Turkey.
Some of those forcibly evicted from Sulukule have migrated to Balat, Gaziosmanpaþa and Edirne.
337 families who settled in TOKÝ houses in Taþoluk and Kayabaþý have within the first year returned to Karagümrük, the neighborhood side by side with Sulukule. They even hanged up their clothes on the iron curtain of the building.
Þükrü Pümdük,Chair of the Sulukule Association of the Romany, still stands trial for not selling the house he inherited from the grandmother of his mother. “I don’t care about the price estimated for my house. They have destroyed my culture, no price can be estimated for that”, he says.
Pümdük, musician in Sulukule Orchestra of the Romany, could live only one month with his family in the neighborhood of Taþoluk. “Most of us have returned to here because living in other neighborhoods is quite expensive. They have made an end of the entertainment sector here. I have started to work in Taksim but it is quite difficult for me to return to my house at three o’clock at midnight as I can’t give my entire daily wage to take a taxi. The rent money of TOKÝ apartments are around 400 TL but the expenses of a family exceeds 1500 TL with the inclusion of all expenses like central heating and carfare. We have returned but it is not allowed to play clarinet in Kumkapý neighborhood. 90 percent of the Romany population is made of musicians who now have to find other works like pedlar's trade or shoe making.”
To the question “how is life going in Karagümrük”, Pümdük shows a photograph of former Sulukule whose name and people have been changed now. “This was my two-fold house, and this one my new apartment. Can a neighborhood culture be created amid these piecemeal apartment blocks?”, asks Pümdük.
Sulukule Art Workshop for Children near the new building is the only thing that has resisted against everything in the neighborhood, music still continues there.
* Nilay Vardar wrote this piece for Bianet
While walking along the ramparts in Fatih district, I see the “Ottoman Houses” with a signboard of TOKÝ and Özkar construction, this is the former Sulukule neighborhood.
My question “How can I go to Sulukule” is replied to with a bold answer; “Why? Would you buy a house here? I have two houses to sell if you want, 400 thousand TL each.”
The urban regeneration project in Sulukule which has caused the eviction of 5,500 people so far is about to end now. Villas allocated to only 50 Sulukule residents will be delivered by mid-March with a drawing of lots. Prices of new houses are said to have reached 600 thousand TL.
Three experts said that ‘the project doesn’t protect the historical fabric’.
The project is also found unlawful by the report prepared within the scope of the lawsuit that Sulukule Association of the Romany and neighborhood residents in 2007 filed to Fatih Municipality and the Ministry of Culture for the cancellation of the project.
While the first expert report didn’t deem the project suitable for the protective reconstruction plan, the second expert report also didn’t find the constructions suitable for the public weal and for the historical fabric protection purposes of the law no 5366.
The third expert report was prepared when the Municipality and the Ministry objected to this decision claiming that they had revised the project. However, the result is the same again; the project is not lawful because of the fact that no amendments have been made in the project.
The second expert report said that;
*The Preliminary Project halved the Rampart Protection Band determined by UNESCO.
* The island morphology and street fabric weren’t protected.
*The public areas were opened to structuring, street profiles were extended within the scope of the project.
*No place was given to green areas and parks.
*The structure typology isn’t suitable for the present street fabric and registered structures.
The Association lawyer Hilal Küey says that; “All three expert reports have found the project unlawful. The court could have ruled stay of execution even after the first report, but it didn’t. The constructions are about to finish and the court is supposed to cancel the project now.”
If the court rules that the project should be cancelled, the Municipality will have to work on a new lawful project.
On the other hand, the Association and several residents of the neighborhood appealed to the ECHR in May of 2010 as the process took longer than expected and they didn’t want to wait any more.
The case against Turkey was opened on the grounds that the project violated the right to fair trial, didn’t protect private life and discriminated against the Romany. Apart from exceptional circumstances, the ECHR normally doesn’t accept cases unless the means of internal law remain inconclusive.
The Court agreed to examine this file as the Sulukule case is also an example of exceptional circumstances. Lawyer Küey is quite hopeful about the result as this decision could set an example to the victims of other urban regeneration projects in Turkey.
Some of those forcibly evicted from Sulukule have migrated to Balat, Gaziosmanpaþa and Edirne.
337 families who settled in TOKÝ houses in Taþoluk and Kayabaþý have within the first year returned to Karagümrük, the neighborhood side by side with Sulukule. They even hanged up their clothes on the iron curtain of the building.
Þükrü Pümdük,Chair of the Sulukule Association of the Romany, still stands trial for not selling the house he inherited from the grandmother of his mother. “I don’t care about the price estimated for my house. They have destroyed my culture, no price can be estimated for that”, he says.
Pümdük, musician in Sulukule Orchestra of the Romany, could live only one month with his family in the neighborhood of Taþoluk. “Most of us have returned to here because living in other neighborhoods is quite expensive. They have made an end of the entertainment sector here. I have started to work in Taksim but it is quite difficult for me to return to my house at three o’clock at midnight as I can’t give my entire daily wage to take a taxi. The rent money of TOKÝ apartments are around 400 TL but the expenses of a family exceeds 1500 TL with the inclusion of all expenses like central heating and carfare. We have returned but it is not allowed to play clarinet in Kumkapý neighborhood. 90 percent of the Romany population is made of musicians who now have to find other works like pedlar's trade or shoe making.”
To the question “how is life going in Karagümrük”, Pümdük shows a photograph of former Sulukule whose name and people have been changed now. “This was my two-fold house, and this one my new apartment. Can a neighborhood culture be created amid these piecemeal apartment blocks?”, asks Pümdük.
Sulukule Art Workshop for Children near the new building is the only thing that has resisted against everything in the neighborhood, music still continues there.
* Nilay Vardar wrote this piece for Bianet
