Belly Dancers in Istanbul Bulldozed to Make Capital of Culture
By Seda Sezer
Dec. 5 (Bloomberg) -- Sukru Punduk says his family has lived in Sulukule, Istanbul's Gypsy quarter, for six centuries and he won't be driven out by laptop-carrying, stroller-pushing yuppies.
The city plans to bulldoze Sulukule to make way for 620 townhouses as part of its effort to spruce up the area by 2010, when Istanbul will be the European Capital of Culture.
Punduk, a tom-tom player whose home is on the demolition list, is leading the fight against the redevelopment project. He says it will destroy a community that's produced some of Turkey's best-loved musicians and belly dancers, and price the city's Gypsies, also known as Roma, out of their historic home.
``I've seen the models they've made for the new housing,'' says Punduk, 38. ``There are little model people carrying laptops or pushing prams, but no women in headscarves, no horse- carriages, no one playing the tom-tom. The Gypsies don't exist.''
On the streets of Sulukule, the scent of lentils from a soup canteen mixes with the aroma of horse dung and hashish. Children, one carrying a one-legged baby doll, play in the rubble of some of the 20 houses that have already been knocked down.
Other homes in the enclave, surrounded by 5th-century Byzantine walls on the European side of Istanbul, were abandoned by owners who accepted compensation from the city. They now house chickens and the horse-drawn carriages used to ferry tourists on sightseeing excursions. Black numbers on the walls mark another 600 slated for demolition early next year.
(MORE)
Dec. 5 (Bloomberg) -- Sukru Punduk says his family has lived in Sulukule, Istanbul's Gypsy quarter, for six centuries and he won't be driven out by laptop-carrying, stroller-pushing yuppies.
The city plans to bulldoze Sulukule to make way for 620 townhouses as part of its effort to spruce up the area by 2010, when Istanbul will be the European Capital of Culture.
Punduk, a tom-tom player whose home is on the demolition list, is leading the fight against the redevelopment project. He says it will destroy a community that's produced some of Turkey's best-loved musicians and belly dancers, and price the city's Gypsies, also known as Roma, out of their historic home.
``I've seen the models they've made for the new housing,'' says Punduk, 38. ``There are little model people carrying laptops or pushing prams, but no women in headscarves, no horse- carriages, no one playing the tom-tom. The Gypsies don't exist.''
On the streets of Sulukule, the scent of lentils from a soup canteen mixes with the aroma of horse dung and hashish. Children, one carrying a one-legged baby doll, play in the rubble of some of the 20 houses that have already been knocked down.
Other homes in the enclave, surrounded by 5th-century Byzantine walls on the European side of Istanbul, were abandoned by owners who accepted compensation from the city. They now house chickens and the horse-drawn carriages used to ferry tourists on sightseeing excursions. Black numbers on the walls mark another 600 slated for demolition early next year.
(MORE)
posted by Allie @ 8:44 AM
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