New Report out now: Third Airport will destroy Istanbul?

Download Third Airport Report

"The Third Airport Report is written by the relevant working group of Northern Forests Defense,  a movement that advocates for the protection of the ecologically interconnected and diverse area of Northern Forests extending from Sapanca to Strandzha Mountains consisting of the last forest lands, watersheds, and farm lands along with many endemic plant and animal species.

The report titled '' The Third Airport Project Vis-a-Vis Life, Nature, Environment, People and Law'' lays bare the irrevocable  natural and  environmental damages the project will engender through the destruction of forests, water basins and wetlands and the extinction of flora, fauna,and birds, the fatal picture that even the project’s inadequate EIA reports have failed to disguise.

Another objective of the report is to open the scientific qualities of its EIA reports to questioning.  Serious airworthiness risks stemming from migratory birds, meteorological conditions,landslides  and the  particular terrain of the project area together with  fillings and grades that need to be made for the project are also delineated in the report.

We also want to draw attention not only to the fact that the 3rd Airport project will not be able to be economically efficient under the existing global and local conditions but also to the pillage plans of the firms who undertake the project about the area. Besides, by bringing forward the other projects of the firms who undertake this project that disregard human rights, the right to environment, relevant laws and court decisions completely, we unveil  those who plunder the rich lands of the country, now reaching for Istanbul’s lungs, North Forests with this project.

We would appreciate it very much if you can circulate and share the report.

We are determined to name and shame all responsible actors that support /will support through whatever means this insane project which,as is evident from the report, will destroy Istanbul.

Best/ Cihan "

Email from Cihan Baysal, 24.05.2015

Networks of Dispossession

http://www.mulksuzlestirme.org

Collective data compiling and mapping on the relations of capital and power within urban transformation in Turkey

website http://www.mulksuzlestirme.org showing the distribution of money and
power within urban transformation in Turkey

The map above shows concerning to the website "what other investments do the developers of urban renewal projects have? What kind of partnerships have been established between the government and private developers during these processes of dispossession? To which certain investors have citizens' taxes been transmitted through the redevelopment/privatization of public space? Which corporate owned media outlets are censoring the ecological, economical and social destruction mega projects such as the 3rd airport, 3rd bridge and Ilısu Dam (Hasankeyf) will cause? In this network map,dispossession projects are represented in black circles. The size of the circle represents the value of the project. are represented in blue and directly connected to their projects. The media outlets are represented with their logo and are directly connected to the affiliated corporation. Work related crimes are noted in red next to the project. Supporters of Turkey's Olympic bid are noted in purple and the 13. Istanbul Biennial sponsors are indicated with turquoise colored text. The network map organizes itself by running as a software simulation, where the names naturally find their position on the canvas through connecting forces, revealing the central actors, indirect links, and organic clusters."

 

Let the Blames Begin

reblogged from NYT

September 11, 2013, 11:47

 

By ANDREW FINKEL

ISTANBUL — If he knew me, Suat Kilic, Turkey’s sports minister, would probably say that I decorate my backside with henna — Turkish vernacular for a naysayer who gloats over the misfortunes of others.
I did feel a twinge of regret late Saturday night when the news tickers flashed word that Tokyo, rather than my home city of Istanbul, would host the 2020 Summer Olympics. It would have been fun, and good for business, for the greatest sporting show on earth to come to town. But after a pause, I breathed a very deep sigh of relief.
I believe that hosting the Games would have given the Turkish authorities license to impose their pharaonic vision of Istanbul. The Olympic bid was already being cited as justification for building a third airport. This government revels in huge, environmentally reckless projects. It has madcap plans to build not just another bridge across the Bosphorus, but another Bosphorus altogether: a new canal to link the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara.

Pro-government media are blaming Istanbul’s failure to win the games on us tree-huggers, especially the Gezi Park protesters. “The Hooligans are Happy” was the headline in the daily Aksam on Sunday. Kilic tweeted “They must have exhausted their supply of henna.”
The newspaper Yeni Safak has pointed a finger at Reuters — for daring to show that demonstrations in Istanbul were starting afresh by posting a photo of a restaurant full of tear gas on the day the International Olympic Committee made its selection. The police were trying to disperse a recent Gezi-style protest against plans to build a highway through a forest on a university campus on the outskirts of Ankara.
But the reason Istanbul didn’t win the Olympic bid had less to do with Gezi Park than doping scandals and game fixing in Turkish sports and the rumblings of war next door in Syria. The strength of its application was the city’s symbolism — great commercial center, past capital of an Islamic empire, link between Europe and Asia — but that symbolism wasn’t strong enough.
If anything, Istanbul is now in danger of becoming the symbol of a city divided, not just between Europe and Asia but by irreconcilable internal differences. The promotional video the Turkish government showed the I.O.C. depicted cappuccino-drinking young executives, out jogging, flirting and having fun. Yet these were henna-bottomed Turks: They are the ones who rallied to save Gezi Park and were pleased to see Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Olympics pitch turned down.
The government seems unable to deal with dissent from this freer-thinking urban professional class other than with police batons. And yet in its bid to host the Games — and to develop the city in just the ways these people contest — it touted their image as its own. I don’t know whether that’s the ultimate sign of disconnect or cynicism.

---

Andrew Finkel has been a foreign correspondent in Istanbul for over 20 years, as well as a columnist for Turkish-language newspapers. He is the author of the book “Turkey: What Everyone Needs to Know.”

Gezi Park and what happend in the last days

Source: facebook

Brachiale Erneuerung in Istanbul

reblogged from NZZ

Wem gehört die Stadt?

Montag, 6. Mai, 06:00

Malerisches Chaos – bereits seit 73 Jahren überquert die immer stärker unter dem Verkehr ächzende Atatürk-Brücke das Goldenen Horn. (Bild: Martin Roemers / Laif)

Eine massige Metro-Brücke über dasGoldene Horn stört den Blick aufs Stadtpanorama, der Taksim-Platz wird umgekrempelt, bald soll eine protzige Moschee vom Camlica-Hügel grüssen: Die AKP-Regierung hat Istanbul ein Modernisierungsprogramm verschrieben, das mit brachialen Mitteln umgesetzt wird.

Veronika Hartmann

«Ich bin Ihr Diener, und mir ist zu Ohren gekommen, dass Sie eine Brücke über das Goldene Horn zu bauen wünschen, doch niemanden finden können, der das kann. Ich bin Ihr Diener und weiss, wie es geht.» Diese Zeilen hat kein Geringerer als Leonardo da Vinci anno 1502 an den osmanischen Sultan Beyazit II. gerichtet, sie finden sich noch heute in türkischer Übersetzung in den Akten des Topkapi-Palasts. Warum da Vincis Entwürfe niemals verwirklicht wurden, ist nicht bekannt.
«Hätte er nur», mag es dem einen oder anderen heutzutage entfahren. Denn demnächst wird eine Metro-Brücke über besagtes Gewässer fertiggestellt werden, die bei den Istanbulern wenig Begeisterung hervorruft. Sie verbindet die ältesten Stadtviertel miteinander, nämlich Galata und Eminönü. Hoch oben ist sie und wird von einer Drahtseilkonstruktion getragen. Statt sich sanft in die Stadtsilhouette einzuschmiegen, verdeckt sie den Blick auf die historische Halbinsel mit Topkapi-Serail, Hagia Sophia und Süleymaniye-Moschee. Auch die Unesco, die bereits 1985 das gesamte Areal zum Weltkulturerbe ernannt hat und nun über dessen Schutz wacht, zeigte sich bei der letzten Begehung Ende letzten Jahres beunruhigt. Den Bericht dazu erwartet man in diesen Tagen.

Irreversibler Fehler

Der Architekt Ali Ulvi Altan, der als Projektleiter mit dem Bau der Brücke betraut ist, beteuert, dass die Unesco sich von dem Projekt habe überzeugen lassen. «Es ist ja noch nicht fertig, mit etwas Farbe und Beleuchtung kann man da noch einiges machen.» Eine Alternative hat es in seinen Augen nicht gegeben. «Das Problem besteht darin, dass wir an diese Route gebunden waren. Die einzig sinnvolle Lösung wäre natürlich eine andere Streckenführung gewesen, aber darüber wurde bereits in den 1980er Jahren entschieden. Damals war Denkmalschutz noch kein Thema», erklärt Altan. Da die Tunnel, die zur Anbindung an das Streckennetz der Metro notwendig sind, bereits in den neunziger Jahren gegraben worden waren, wollte die Stadt aus Kostengründen vom überalterten Plan nicht abweichen. Ohnehin hatte das Amt für Denkmalschutz bereits ein Dutzend Entwürfe abgelehnt, der jetzt umgesetzte war der einzige, der den behördlichen Segen erhalten hat. Massgeblich daran beteiligt gewesen sein soll übrigens kein Geringerer als der Istanbuler Oberbürgermeister und Architekt Kadir Topbas, auch wenn unter dem Entwurf offiziell der Name seines Kollegen Hakan Kiran steht.
Doch die Brücke ist nicht der einzige Streitpunkt, denn Istanbul gleicht einer Grossbaustelle. Die Strassenführung am zentralen Taksim-Platz wird unter die Erde verlegt, die bisherige Grünfläche zu einem Einkaufszentrum umgewandelt. Der Bosporus wird untertunnelt und ein weiteres Mal überbrückt. Weil eine Verbindung unter dem Bosporus bereits der Traum des Sultans Abdülmecid im Jahr 1860 war, soll noch vor der Fertigstellung des Marmaray-Tunnels mit dem Bau eines zweiten begonnen werden. Der ehemalige Hafen von Haydarpasa wird weichen und an seiner Stelle ein olympisches Stadion entstehen, der gleichnamige historische Bahnhof, der 2010 durch einen Brand teilweise zerstört wurde, soll als Hotel wie ein Phönix aus der Asche auferstehen. Camlica, einer der höchsten Hügel der Stadt und ein beliebtes Ausflugsziel, wird bereits in zwei Jahren von der grössten Moschee des Landes gekrönt, während ausserdem Europas grösstes Finanzzentrum und riesige Trabantenstädte aus dem Boden gestampft werden. Damit nicht genug, man nimmt Mass für einen neuen Bosporus, der Schwarzes Meer und Marmarameer einige Dutzend Kilometer weiter westlich erneut verbinden soll.
Natürlich darf auch der grösste Flughafen der Welt nicht fehlen. Es wird gegraben, aufgeschüttet und umgewühlt. Für den Bauboom, der an allen Ecken und Enden der Stadt die Bürger quält, gibt es verschiedene, auch sehr triftige Gründe. Zum einen erlebte die Stadt eine Bevölkerungsexplosion, wie man sie in vergleichbarem Umfang kaum findet. Während die Stadtväter in den 1980er Jahren noch mit rund 5 Millionen Einwohnern rechneten, sind es heute offiziell 12 Millionen. Dass diese Zahl viel zu niedrig gegriffen ist, zweifelt niemand wirklich an. Dazu kommen zum andern die unendlichen Ströme der Touristen, Besucher und Geschäftsreisenden. Und alle diese Menschen wollen nicht nur untergebracht, transportiert, ernährt und unterhalten werden, sie sind gleichzeitig dem hohen Erdbebenrisiko der Region ausgesetzt. Die Antwort auf diese Herausforderungen hält die Stadt in Form des Konzepts «Städtischer Wandel» bereit, eines grossangelegten Bauprojekts, in dessen Rahmen allein in Istanbul über 200 000 Gebäude abgerissen werden sollen. An ihrer Stelle sind moderne Wohngebiete geplant. «Und wenn es uns die Regierung kostet, das werden wir jetzt durchziehen!», versprach Ministerpräsident Tayyip Erdogan nach einem verheerenden Beben, das 2011 die Region Van im Südosten des Landes heimsuchte.
Als Folge werden nun in Istanbul ganze Stadtviertel wie das historische Sulukule oder das zentrale Tarlabasi entvölkert und die Anwohner, die oft zu arm sind, um sich zu wehren, enteignet und in Wohnsilos fernab ihrer alten Wohnstätten vertrieben. Die alte Bausubstanz wird komplett abgerissen, und es entstehen Luxuswohnungen und Büros, die Höchstpreise erzielen. Auf historisches Erbe, Denkmalschutz oder ausreichend Grünflächen wird nicht geachtet. Bereits jetzt gibt es nur noch durchschnittlich 3 Quadratmeter Grün pro Einwohner, in Europa sind 30 Quadratmeter Standard.

Kampf um Mitspracherecht

Nun mag es einerseits faszinieren, dass es den Baumeistern der Metropole vergönnt zu sein scheint, Grossprojekte so schnell umzusetzen wie in kaum einem anderen Land. Doch das hat seinen Preis, und diesen zahlen in Istanbul vor allem die Zivilgesellschaft, das historische Stadtgefüge und auch der Katastrophenschutz. Deswegen wünschen sich die Bürger eine Beteiligung an den Entscheidungsprozessen und auch einen Mindeststandard für die Raumplanung.
Nicht weit von der neuen Metro-Brücke über das Goldene Horn hat die Istanbuler Architektenkammer ihren Sitz. Er befindet sich im Stadtteil Karaköy, wo man den rasanten Wandel der Stadt gut beobachten kann. Was noch vor einem Jahrzehnt ein Hafenviertel mit Bordellen, Schiffsbedarf wie Ankern und Tauen sowie Elektroartikeln war, bietet heute immer mehr schicken Hotels und Cafés, Offices und Galerien Raum. Hinter einem Berg von Akten sitzt Mücella Yapici, Architektin und Aktivistin der Architektenkammer.
Für sie ist die Brücke nur ein Puzzleteil in der fehlgeleiteten Baupolitik der Stadt. Vor allem der Standort sei katastrophal gewählt, da gibt sie Altan gerne recht. Aber in ihren Augen sind die meisten Bauprojekte, die in Istanbul durchgeführt werden, durch nichts zu entschuldigen. «Das grösste Problem, das die Stadt hat, ist die Erdbebengefahr, Seismologen fürchten eine schwere Entladung der tektonischen Spannungen schon in naher Zukunft. Doch genauso schlimm ist nun die Bedrohung durch die Bausünden, die unter dem Vorwand begangen werden, die Stadt gegen eine bevorstehende Naturkatastrophe zu wappnen», erklärt Yapici. Denn wenn eine Gegend als Risikogebiet ausgewiesen ist, fallen die Auflagen des Denkmalschutzes weg. Laut Yapici trifft das auf 60 Prozent der historischen Halbinsel zu. «Schwer zu sagen, was mittlerweile schwerer wiegt. Zudem werden Grossvorhaben wie Brücken, Flughäfen, Tunnel von ganz oben entschieden. Vom Ministerium für Umwelt und Städtebau oder von Ministerpräsident Erdogan persönlich. Jede Epoche möchte sich eben verewigen und der Stadt ihren Stempel aufdrücken.»
Der öffentliche Raum wird also über die Köpfe der Bürger hinweg gestaltet. Sie haben keine Möglichkeit, eigene Vorstellungen und Ideen einzubringen – nicht einmal, wenn ihre eigenen Häuser oder Stadtviertel betroffen sind. Yapici, die im Namen der Architektenkammer gegen Bausünden zu klagen versucht, mit der Stadtverwaltung über Projekte diskutiert und bei Demos an vorderster Front für den Erhalt von kulturellem Erbe kämpft, freut sich, ein wachsendes Interesse der Bevölkerung an Fragen der Stadtentwicklung beobachten zu können. «Es haben sich Quartier-Initiativen gebildet, die sich jetzt auch untereinander vernetzen. Doch leider mangelt es in der Türkei an einer demokratischen Tradition. Hier hoffen die Menschen, dass ‹die da oben› schon richtig entscheiden werden. Abschreckend ist auch, dass friedliche Demonstrationen gegen die Zerstörung von Kulturgütern nicht selten von den Sicherheitskräften mit Tränengas und Wasserwerfern auseinandergetrieben werden.» Dennoch glaubt Yapici, dass immer mehr Menschen nicht länger tatenlos zusehen wollen, wie das Gesicht der Stadt verändert wird.

Zaudernde Unesco

Yapici kritisiert die zögernde Haltung der Unesco gegenüber dem von Stadt, Ministerium und Regierung praktizierten brachialen Umgang mit Istanbuls Kulturerbe und erklärt: «Seit 2006 tauchen die Brücke über das Goldene Horn, die Stadtteile Sulukule und Tarlabasi sowie die historische Halbinsel in allen Berichten der Unesco auf, und es wird damit gedroht, dass Istanbul den Status als Weltkulturerbe einbüsst. Aber passiert ist nichts, und ich persönlich glaube, dass sich durch die Globalisierung auch die Einstellung der Unesco geändert hat.» Nicht ganz so schwarz sieht das Brückenbauer Ali Ulvi Altan: «Ein Gutes hat die Brücke auf jeden Fall!», tröstet er. «Immerhin hat sie das Interesse der Menschen an ihrem kulturellen Erbe geweckt, sie setzen sich jetzt dafür ein und wollen, dass man es schützt.» Ausserdem gibt es bereits einen neuen Plan: Ein Stück weiter das Goldene Horn hinauf plant man den Bau der nächsten Brücke. Sie soll endlich so aussehen, wie Leonardo da Vinci es sich vorgestellt hat. Vom fernen Italien aus.

Istanbulites ‘’stood up’’ for Gezi Park, the public park in Taksim Square

reblogged from Cihan Baysal, posted on reclaiming spaces mailing list

‘’Stand up! for Taksim Gezi Park’’ Festival organized on April  13th, continued the whole day long with the participation of thousands.

Thousands of Istanbulites resisted against the renewal project which comprises the demolishment of the public park, one of the rare open spaces of the city center with its spacious green plots and decades old trees, and the construction of a shopping mall in its place in the replica of the late Ottoman artillery barracks.  The Festival was organized by the recently established  Taksim Gezi Park Association under the umbrella of Taksim Solidarity. Istanbulites, from all ages, backgrounds, social and ethnic groups reclaimed Gezi Park whole day long till midnight.

Taksim Solidarity, consisting of professional chambers (architects and city planners), trade unions, grassroots, neighbourhood associations, urban platforms and urban movements, has been fighting against Taksim Project of the government, which will not only demolish one of the rare precious green plots of the city-and the more so for a city expecting its earthquake-but will also turn Taksim Square into an inanimate space by cutting its access to crowds.
Taksim Square happens to be the most important public space in Istanbul as well as in the whole country, where May 1st ralles, democratic demonstrations, New Year celebrations and all kinds of public gatherings are held.  The project, while preventing the access of crowds to the square and through demolishment of Gezi Park right next to the Square,  will transform the ‘’Agora’’ into a consumer space, in line with the neoliberal vision of the government.
The process was initiated by the implementation of the urban renewal project in Tarlabasi, a residential area of minorities, vulnerable groups, urban poor and low-income groups. The project has led to displacement of settled residents and unjust property transfers to high income groups.


''Stand Up for Gezi Park'' info:

http://www.facebook.com/taksimgeziparkidernegi

http://www.sendika.org/2013/04/istanbul-gezi-parki-icin-ayaga-kalkti/

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10151607383422792

Criminalization of Urban Poverty by Turkish Prime Minister

Urban sprawl hid and fed terrorism: Turkish PM

reblogged from Reclaim Istanbul

by Yaşar Adnan Adanalı

Economic and social factors such as poverty, unemployment, bad housing and urban sprawl have been important factors that have fed terrorism year after year, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said in Istanbul today.

Speaking during an event in Gazioşmanpaşa district to preside over the demolition of hundreds of homes – ostensibly for the purposes of constructing modern housing in their place – Erdoğan made a connection between terrorism and bad urbanization.

“While in the east our soldiers and police officers fought terrorism, [previous governments] did nothing about the poverty, unemployment and discrimination that terrorist groups abused. They shut their eyes to the migration to big cities while they were building shanty houses. Urban sprawl became places of abuse that hid terrorism,” Erdoğan said, emphasizing that young people with no hope for the future became vulnerable targets of such groups. “We will transform those swamps into rose and tulip gardens.”

Erdoğan also responded to criticism about the 63-member Wise Persons’ Commission that held its first meeting on April 4 as part of its task of overseeing a peace process to end the Kurdish issue.

Erdoğan repeated that the seven groups of wise people that will visit each of Turkey’s seven regions to discuss the peace process would be free to do their own planning.

“We did not force them. But some seem very upset. Some cry out that they are not in the group, others are jealous. We are bustling about doing something to stop mothers’ tears, but some are still trying to gain [political] benefit,” he said.

Istanbul ‘overpopulated’

A former Istanbul mayor, Erdoğan also argued that Turkey’s fabled metropolis was too populous. “When I became mayor [in 1994], 8 million people lived in Istanbul. Now it’s 14 million. Is this how it should be? I don’t think so. We have to find a solution for migration,” he said.

The Turkish prime minister also criticized construction companies for building skyscrapers and tall buildings that now cover the entire Istanbul skyline, arguing that buildings should not be taller than four or five floors.

“We have to attach importance to aesthetics. You will tell me that 40- or 50-story buildings can de aesthetic, too. They can, I won’t deny it. But humans should live near the soil,” he said.

Source: Hurriyet Daily News

STAND UP for Taksim Gezi Park - Taksim Gezi Parkı İçin AYAĞA KALK

New Turkey wide Demolitions in the Name of Disaster Protection

 http://www.ntvmsnbc.com/id/25380523   text translated and links added by Cihan Baysal

''The Minister of Urban Affairs of Turkey has recently announced that the demolishments will start in October in 30 places simultaneously,  using dynamites in some .

The Minister of Urban Affairs, Bayraktar, declared that the agenda for the implementation of the Law on Areas Under Risk of Disasters has been materialized:

'' We will have a start which is going to cause reverberations. We are starting in October. In 30 or 40 different parts of Turkey, we will have demolishments'', stated Bayraktar. The prior cities will be Istanbul,Ankara,Izmir,Bursa,Kocaeli,Sakarya, Konya,Bolu and Van.

Upon the question of ''Do you experience any difficulty in social support?'', the Minister reflected that '' the people are very willing.We reached a dimension of voluntariness.Without getting tired,we explain to the people that they will be getting rid of their dilapidated  buildings under risk. Those who object to this, those who call it the 'transformation of rent/ profit' should come to me and tell me whom we are providing profit, I am expecting them to come''

Bayraktar stated that engineering studies are being made for demolishments that will take place in at least 30 cities. During the demolishments, alongside demolishing machines,explosion by  dynamite-a technique not familiar in Turkey- will also be used. Tests are being made in order not to cause any disasters via explosion by dynamite.It is notified that this technique will be used in places where the poplation is not dense. The Minister Bayraktar expressed that  because he did not like the word '' demolishment undertaker'' , they are looking for other words to coin the expression.

The financial portrait of demolishments hasn't been substantiated yet. The demolishments will give a start in October via 'ceremonies' and urban transformation is planned to be urgent in the first 2 years and scheduled to be finished in 5 stages in  3-5-7 and 10 year periods''.   

For the Law on Areas under risk of Disasters,please visit:http://direitoamoradia.org/?p=13059&lang=en

For the Minister's question on 'projects for rent/profit',

Please visit: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/nov/09/sulukule-roma-housing-row-istanbul?INTCMP=SRCH

and

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/mar/01/istanbul-city-urban-renewal?INTCMP=SRCH

Suleymaniye: 

http://bianet.org/english/human-rights/137680-demolition-in-suleymaniye-with-announcement

And the Tarlabasi renewal Project with 100 square meter luxurious offices going for 800.000 dollars while a 5 storey building owned by a resident was expropriated for 761.000 TL ( 423.000 dollars)!.So, the legally owned property is transferred to firms and companies:   

''Million dollar offices for public good '': http://www.radikal.com.tr/Radikal.aspx?aType=RadikalDetayV3&ArticleID=1099694&CategoryID=80

SIGN PETITION - TAKSIM BELONGS TO ALL OF US

sign petition here: http://www.taksimplatformu.org/english.php 

Demonstration on Taksim indicating that the construction works is underway!

text from the same page:

TAKSİM PLATFORM: PRESS RELEASE AND SIGNATURE PETITION

What Does the Recently Proposed Taksim Project Involve?
The recently proposed Taksim Project calls for the construction of enormous ramps --10 meters deep and 100 meters long-- leading to subterranean tunnels directing traffic under Taksim Square. The ramps will be located at seven points near the square, including Gümüşsuyu, Sıraselviler, Mete, Tarlabaşı, and Cumhuriyet Boulevards. High concrete walls will be erected, and the existing sidewalks along the boulevards will be transformed into service roads. The trees in the vicinity will be cut down, and it will be difficult, if not impossible, to reach Taksim Square by foot. Underground tunnels will not solve the problems of urban transportation and traffic. Urban planners throughout the developed world have long since discredited them.

THE TAKSİM PROJECT IS NOT ABOUT MAKING THE SQUARE MORE PEDESTRIAN-FRIENDLY (despite claims otherwise)
How Was the Project Passed through Official Channels?
The present plans for Taksim Square were announced by the Prime Minister before the elections. The Istanbul Greater Metropolitan Parliament then approved them by vote, after which the Istanbul No. 2 Regional Agency for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage Sites passed the bill with speed unprecedented  for a “reconstruction project.”
Despite being a public initiative financed by city taxes, residents of the city and civic organizations have not been informed of, nor consulted about, the details of the project. The Metropolitan government has not provided any means for public discussion. It continues to ignore the voices of various groups and individuals who have the expertise to evaluate the effects this project will have on the urban fabric of Taksim.
THE LACK OF TRANSPARENCY IN PLANNING AND PASSING THIS PROJECT VIOLATES EVERY PRINCIPLE OF PARTICIPATORY DEMOCRACY

What Do We Want?
We want transparency and the opportunity for input in the redesign of Taksim Square. Urban development plans should take into consideration those residing in nearby neighborhoods as well as those who work in and visit the area. Transportation projects should not be planned by decree from above, nor in isolation from their environment and residents. The latest holistic approaches need to be taken into consideration during the design of transportation systems, viewing them as part of the overall urban fabric.
As the highest-profile and most symbolic square in Turkey, Taksim Square means many things to people of many different walks of life. Democratic participation in deciding how to design and use this public space is just as important as it is in rewriting the Constitution.
The days of reckless urban development and planning without public consultation are long over. It’s time to do things differently. Let’s start with Taksim Square. Let’s join together and make this an example of how city officials can successfully work in conjunction with civic groups and citizens for a better designed city space for everyone.
We call upon the city officials of Istanbul to serve their constituents in a transparent and democratic way.
Taksim belongs to all of us!http://www.taksimplatformu.org/english.php

News on Tarlabaşı from BIANET.ORG

http://www.bianet.org/bianet/toplum/136198-kirlangic-sokagin-son-sakinleri 

KENTSEL DÖNÜŞÜM

Kırlangıç Sokağın Son Sakinleri

Tarlabaşı'nda tüm komşuları giden Argiş ailesi, istemese de artık evi boşaltmak için mahkeme kararını bekliyor; çünkü sokak lambaları bile çalışmıyor.

Nilay VARDAR

nilay@bianet.org

İstanbul - BİA Haber Merkezi

16 Şubat 2012, Perşembe

Tarlabaşı'nda altı yıldır "kentsel dönüşüm" adı altında devam eden süreçte sokaklar bir bir boşalmaya devam ediyor.
Yıkılmayı bekleyen binaların çoğunun içleri çöp dolmuş; kapı, pencereleri sökülmüş. Pencereden sarkmış eski bir yorgan ya da duvarlara yazılı sözler, sokaklarda bir zamanlar yaşam olduğuna dair kalan son izler...
Küçükkırlangıç sokakta harap binaların arasında kalan Argiş ailesi de sokağın son sakinlerinden. Mardin'den 15 yıl önce İstanbul'a göç eden aile evi boşaltmak için bir türlü bitmek bilmeyen mahkeme sonucunu bekliyor.
Zar zor aldıkları 100 metrekarelik evleri için GAP inşaat 56 bin lira, ya da yeni projeden 51 metrekareye nerede olduğu belli olmayan bir ev teklif etti. Kabul etmeyince de "acil kamulaştırma" tehdidi ile "37 bin liraya düşürürüz" dedi.
Bahattin Argiş direnip dava açmış.
"Mahkemede biz onlara Demirören AVM için ödenen fiyatı emsal gösteriyoruz, onlar bize tehditle satın aldıkları evleri. Evlerini satan insanlar şimdi ağlıyor, içlerinde kalp krizi geçirenler var. Düşünebiliyor musunuz, üst komşunla aynı değerdeki evi korkundan satıyorsun, o ise dava açıp üç katına alıyor."

Mahkemede üç kata çıkıyor

İki yıldır mahkeme sonucunu bekliyor; şu anda evine 160 bin verilmesi planlanıyor. Yani ilk teklif edilenin üç katı.
Argiş mahkemenin fiyatı artırmasının mağduriyeti ortadan kaldırmadığını söylüyor; çünkü asıl mesele ailesiyle Tarlabaşı'nda yaşamaktan mutlu, işlerine yakın, komşuları vardı.
"İstanbul'a ilk geldiğimizde biz burada dostluklarımızı kurduk;  çocuklarım bu semtte büyüdü. İki oğlum ve ben Taksim'deki restaurantlarda çalışıyoruz, gece ikide işten çıkıyoruz, 10 dakikada evdeyiz.

Komşular gitti, çöpler kaldı

"Ama yok onlar bizi, Taksim'e layık görmediler. Şimdi o parayla aynı büyüklükte ve işime yakın ev bulmam imkansız. Her şeyden öte buraya alışmıştık, kahveye gittim mi 50 kişiyi tanırdım... "
Songül Argiş ne olacakları belli olmadığı için evlenme çağındaki iki oğlunu evlendiremediklerinden yakınıyor; bir de sokakların boşluğundan.
"Tüm komşular gitti, evlerin içi çöp içinde, kokudan geçilmiyor. Akşamları sokak lambası bile yanmıyor. Bu halde daha ne kadar kalabiliriz ki burada..."

Zincirci'ye verilen ev

Jirayr Zincirci de Tarlabaşı'nın en mağdurlarından biriydi; çünkü ne mülk sahibi ne de kiracıydı ama 30 yıllık Tarlabaşılıydı; iki ay önce küçücük odasından çıkarılmak isteniyordu.
bianet, Radikal ve Milliyet gazetesinin konuyu haber yapmasının üzerine, twitter üzerinden "jirayr amcaya ev" kampanyası başlatıldı. Bunun üzerine Beyoğlu Belediye Başkanı Misbah Demircan, Zincirci'ye ev verileceğini belirtti.
Haftasonu Zincirci, 30 yıllık minicik odasından ayrılıp, kız kardeşi ile birlikte Tarlabaşı'nda oturduğu yerin alt mahallesinden birinde minik bir eve yerleşti. Evinde ziyaret ettiğimiz Zincirci, kedilerini de yanına aldığında tamamen rahatlayacağını söyledi.

Diğer "Zincirci"ler?

Bizim haberi yaparken amacımız, acilen Zincirci'nin barınma hakkının karşılanması ama esasen Tarlabaşı'nda kentsel dönüşümün getirdiği mağduriyete dikkat çekmekti.
Demircan, bizzat devletin barınma hakkını hiçe sayarak yarattığı mağduriyeti giderdi. Şu an Zincirci memnun; peki diğer Tarlabaşılılar... Sorun sadece Zincirci değil ki.
Kiracılar zaten kentsel dönüşümün görünmez özneleri olarak Tarlabaşı'nı terk etti. Mülk sahiplerinin bir kısmı ihaleyi alan Çalık Grubu'na ait GAP inşaatın kurduğu ikna odalarında avukatları olmadan acil kamulaştırma tehdidi ile evlerini çok düşük fiyata sattı.
Bir kısım mülk sahibi ise her ne kadar mağduriyetlerini hiçbir zaman gideremeyecek de olsa kamulaştırmaya karşı açtıkları davaların sonucunu bekliyor.

Anıtlar Kurulu da görevini yapmadı

Tarlabaşı Mülk Sahipleri Derneği'nin avukatlığını yapan Barış Kaşka, en mağdurların korkudan evlerini yok pahasına satanlar olduğunu mahkemelik olanların da fiyat arttırımı kazansa dahi yine de bunun piyasa değerinin çok altında olduğunu söylüyor.
5366 sayılı yasanın en önemli maddesi "uzlaşma"nın "soylulaşma" pahasıne hiçe sayıldığını söyleyen Kaşka, dünyada örneği olmayan "Belediye, şirket" ortaklığıyla "kamu yararının zerresinin gözetilmediğini" belirtiyor.
Kaşka, binaların aslına uygun şekilde tarihi özellikleri korunarak yapılmasının mümkün olmadığını, zaten bunu denetlemesi gereken Anıtlar Kurulu'nun da görevini yapmadığını söylüyor.
Dernek Avan projenin iptali için Avrupa İnsan Hakları Mahkemesi'ne (AİHM)  başvurmuştu. Ama bir ay içinde kamulaştırma davası ile ilgili AİHM'e ilk kez bireysel başvuru yapılacak. (NV)

New Taksim Project gets closer

Taksim Meydanı Projesi from Adalet ve Kalkinma Partisi on Vimeo.

http://www.radikal.com.tr/

Tarlabasi Promotion Video of Municipality and GAP

http://tv.beyoglu.bel.tr/VideoDetail/2/Tarlabasi-Yenileniyor

Turkey - They don’t care where you live | Slum Stories

Filmmaker: Nejla Osseiran
Production: Amnesty International 

text from http://www.slumstories.org/episode/turkey-they-don%E2%80%99t-care-where-you-live
Urban development in Turkey has moved rapidly since 2000. This is when the authorities started work to protect old settlements and cultural heritage, but they didn’t stop there. Residential areas were tackled as well. This makes residents vulnerable to forced eviction and demolition.
The residents of the Ottoman quarter of Tokludede, in Istanbul, were told in 2006 that their quarter would be tackled. They live in fear ever since. To protest against their uncertain situation, they presented a petition to the local council in which they demanded that their right to housing would be respected.
Şehriban İşbeceren lives in Tokludede. She opposes the council’s zoning plans by refusing to sell her house to the council. 'They don’t give us enough money and they force us to leave our houses. We have done nothing wrong.' According to Memiş Karamukoğlu, who lives in the same quarter, the residents of Tokludede have become undesirable persons. 'If you have money, you can live in Turkey. If not, you’re supposed to just go and live somewhere else. They don’t care where you live!'


Yapımcı/Producer: Imre Azem
Yönetmen/Director: Nejla Osseiran
Kurgu/Editing: Mesut Ulutas
Müzik/Music: Ozan Turkyilmaz & Baris yerli
Yapım/Production: Kibrit Film
Süre/Running time: 8 dk/min
Yılı/Year: 2011

Tarlabaşı Boulevard: preparing for demolition

Posted on December 14, 2011 by Jonathan Lewis on www.tarlabasiistanbul.com

Three weeks ago the bright yellow concretebarrier blocks were installed over night.  A few days later they were spray-painted with the ” Tarlabaşı” development logo  and the construction company “Gap İnșaat” to the side.  The workmen started changing the layout of the road and now concrete footings are going in place along the front.


There is only one functioning building left along one complete section of the boulevard front; even then it’s a hotel that comes from a side-street.  Other than that most of the buildings are shells now, or “Beirut” as one resident referred to it, shaking his head in dismay at his own comparison with a city that he’d only ever seen on television during the wars that Lebanon is known for.
Whilst the residents have moved, or been moved, out.  New people have come in to the frontage; dealers and sex-workers who are new to the area and who appear able to work freely there, whilst residents who have attempted to gather fire wood have been turned away – forced to leave the wood they had already gathered behind.
The workers aren’t sure.   The demolition starts this week says one; no next week says another, the new year my friends contributes a third worker.    They may not know when the demolition will start; but it doesn’t appear to be long before the buildings will start to come down on the district and community of Tarlabaşı.


Tarlabasi Boulevard - Images by jonathan lewis

THE GUARDIAN: Turkish Roma make way for property developers in historic Istanbul district

Article published by the GUARDIAN
copied from blog reclaimistanbul.wordpress.com


AKP Mayor of Fatih Muncipality Mustafa Demir
in front of new "ottoman-style" houses

• Constanze Letsch in Istanbul
• guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 9 November 2011 18.24 GMT
• 
  
  

Turkish Roma have seen their houses demolished in their former settlement of Sulukule in Istanbul. Photograph: Jonathan Lewis

As property deals go, it leaves a lot to be desired. But then the hundreds of Roma families living in the heart of Istanbul don’t have a lot of choice in the matter.

An “urban regeneration” scheme that turfed thousands of Roma out of their historic settlement in Sulukule is now advertising new townhouses in the district at almost 10 times the price paid to the evictees. The Turkish authorities are being accused of deliberately driving out the Roma in the name of town planning.

The saga began in 2005 when the ruling AKP authorities decided that Sulukule, one of the oldest permanent Roma settlements in the world, and situated in the Istanbul district of Fatih, was to become an Urban Renewal Zone. It was part of a drive to expropriate property in dilapidated areas to boost modernisation – in part for safety reasons, in what is an earthquake-prone part of the world.

The 3,400 Roma living in Sulukule were forced to sell their homes for 500 Turkisl Lira (£175) per sq metre to private investors and the Fatih municipality. Despite worldwide protests, a Unesco warning and court cases to halt the project, forced evictions and demolitions started in 2008. Now surrounded by construction fences, 640 “Ottoman-style” townhouses and offices are springing up on the 22-acre (nine-hectare) site that had housed the local Roma population for over a millennium. The price of the new properties? From TL3,500 to TL 4,500 per sq metre.

“It is clear that none of the former residents will be able to afford a flat here,” said Sükrü Pündük, President of the Sulukule Roma Cultural Development and Solidarity Association, adding that one in four Sulukule residents lives on TL300 per month. “Most people do not have a fixed income, and live from day to day. This was never meant to be a regeneration project, but a project to generate profit, and to force Roma away from the city centre.”

Just outside the construction area Sami Zogun, a former Sulukule resident of more than 40 years, waits for the bus to take him on the one-and-a-half-hour trip to a new development in Tasogluk, a high-rise satellite city constructed on behalf of the public housing development administration, TOKI, roughly 30 miles from the city centre. A single ticket costs TL2.40.

Zogun says that when his friend and landlord sold the 30 sq metre three-storey listed house that he and his wife had inhabited at a modest rent, they moved to Tasogluk, where they must pay TL550 to cover the rent, bills and the commute. His son had to sell his own apartment for the family to afford it.

“If I would have owned that house, I would not have sold them a single needle in it,” he says. “To me, our little wooden house was paradise. The new TOKI houses feel like a golden cage. There is no life there; nothing to do.”

Lorry driver Metin Ates says that he and his family moved back from Tasogluk a year after they left Sulukule. “It was too expensive for us. We just couldn’t make ends meet there.” Once a house owner, Ates was unable to buy another property in the area with the money he received for selling his Sulukule house and now lives in a small flat in a neighbouring district with his wife and three children, paying TL500 a month. “They ruined us. They destroyed our community.”

Like Ates, all but six of the 300 families that moved to Tasogluk in 2008 came back to Sulukule because they were unable to pay the monthly rates, the bills for gas, water and electricity, and the fares for the journey back to Istanbul in order to secure what is a very modest income – Tasogluk did not offer any jobs at all.

Andrew Gardner, Amnesty International’s Turkey researcher, told the Guardian: “Although on paper there is provision for alternative housing in the form of these TOKI houses, we see that the houses which are – on paper – are available to the people displaced from Sulukule are not appropriate, they’re not affordable.”

He added: “The right to housing does not preclude urban regeneration. But it has to be done respecting [the rights] and wishes of the people living in these areas.”

Mücella Yapici of the Istanbul Chamber of Architects says all of Turkey’s urban regeneration schemes are centred on house ownership. “Tenants are never even taken into account, despite them being the most vulnerable,” she said. While the Istanbul average for renting stands between 20% and 30% of households, the number of tenants in Sulukule topped 50%; many residents were simply too poor to afford their own property.

“Homelessness never used to be a serious issue in Istanbul. But the demolitions and evictions led to a dramatic increase of people with nowhere to go. They are not safer, but more vulnerable in the case of a natural disaster,” says Yapici.

“In a way these urban renewal projects which were presented as a remedy to earthquakes cause the same economic and social damage: the forced loss of a person’s home, work, and social ties in a neighbourhood.”

Turkish Roma make way for property developers in historic Istanbul district | World news | The Guardian.