Showing posts with label Tarlabasi. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tarlabasi. Show all posts

Thursday, 9 January 2014

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."

 

Friday, 13 July 2012

Poor but Proud Istanbul Neighborhood Faces Gentrification

By JESSICA BOURQUE
Published: July 4, 2012


“This is a good thing,” he said on a recent afternoon. “Everything here is in bad shape. No one here is washing or painting. They don’t know how to take care of the historical architecture of these buildings.”
“Here” is Tarlabasi, a low-income and primarily Kurdish neighborhood that also serves as a sanctuary for Turkey <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/turkey/index.html?inline=nyt-geo> ’s marginalized populations. In the heart of Istanbul, less than a five-minute walk from the Istiklal Caddesi shopping hub, Tarlabasi’s faded facades are in sharp contrast with Istiklal’s glitzy boutiques. The only thing separating Tarlabasi from the more affluent Beyoglu neighborhood is the six-lane Tarlabasi Boulevard, which has a police station equipped with a tank. 

Tarlabasi’s central location means it could become prime revenue-generating real estate, which is partly why Beyoglu Municipality officials and the Housing Development Administration of Istanbul, known by its Turkish acronym TOKI, declared it an urban renewal area in 2006.Six years later, after court battles over property rights, the project is moving forward. The renewal area encompasses a 20,000-square-meter, or 4.9-acre, section of Tarlabasi that includes 210 historic Ottoman-era buildings; demolition has been under way for a few months. 

At stake is Tarlabasi’s diverse culture. Migrant workers have a long history of living in Tarlabasi, dating from the early 1900s when Greek, Jewish and Armenian craftsmen lived in the area. But those groups were driven out by the wealth tax of 1942, which impoverished many non-Muslim workers, and in 1955 by riots that again focused on non-Muslims. Left vacant after the riots, many houses in Tarlabasi were taken over by workers who migrated from eastern Turkey to find work in Istanbul.
On its Web site, TOKI says the renewal process includes relocating residents to new housing complexes, “identifying the illegally settled households to be evicted” and clearing the land so it can be “regenerated through urban renewal projects.” These projects could include shopping malls, upscale housing units and urban recreational areas. The Beyoglu mayor, Ahmet Misbah Demircan, has said he wants the new Tarlabasi to rival the Champs-Élysées in Paris. 

While Mr. Yesildas, the furniture seller, calls the process a makeover, others see the transformation of Tarlabasi as a negative form of gentrification.The architect Huseyin Kaptan, director of the Istanbul Metropolitan Planning and Urban Design Center, said that TOKI’s renewal plan lacked foresight because it allowed the land to be developed by wealthy real estate investors who had no vested interest in preserving the culture of the area. 

“Unfortunately, this is very aggressive and very wrong,” he said during a recent interview. “To keep the social structure safe, you need to involve the people. Contractors get to build some modern thing — could be a shopping mall, could be a high-rise — but they have no regard for the people living there.” He added: “I call this kind of operation they’re doing, ‘killing them while kissing them.”’

Today, the area is home to a host of low-income laborers scraping by on the monthly minimum wage of 886.50 lire, or $493, or less, working jobs as unlicensed garbage collectors or serving as house cleaners for the better-off.Remziye Civak, 34, who keeps house for the owner of a publishing company, has lived in Tarlabasi for 18 years. Her immaculate two-room apartment also shelters her husband and their three children. “We are lucky,” she said. “We own our home, but many people are renting.” A place the size of her home rents for about 400 lire a month.

The sense of community is strong in Tarlabasi, Mrs. Civak said, and she would miss that if she had to move to a new housing complex in the suburbs. “My neighbors and I, we are like a big family,” she said. “If anyone is sick, I know I can call on my neighbor to come help. We are very close.”But she is nervous about the intensifying drug problems where she lives. “What really worries me is the drug use. It’s called pills. I don’t exactly what they are, but there is a lot of it going on,” she said, “I worry about my kids, because they are young and I think, ‘What if they get involved?”’ 

Yasar Adanali, an urban scholar, consultant and activist, said that, sadly, residents were not a priority for project planners.“Many kinds of informal, illegal migrants are living and seeking refuge in areas like Tarlabasi. Why? Because for them, it’s easier to find employment opportunities around Istiklal,” Mr. Adanali said during a recent interview.“This transformation plan doesn’t pay any attention to these social realities. Why not create social programs to help these people? Instead, they just take Tarlabasi as a problem zone, a cancer area that you need to erase from the map and rebuild for a completely new clientele,” one willing to spend money to become part of the economic boom in Istanbul and Turkey. 

“The city itself has become so deliciously profitable that you can make these kinds of real estate projects without actually involving the inhabitants of the area,” he said. “The real motive in these plans is the desire to make a profit.”It is also part of Turks’ desire to showcase Istanbul as a global city, “competing with global city-wannabes and global city-alreadys like London, New York or Dubai,” Mr. Adanali said. 

For now, local and expatriate students and artists attracted by this global metropolis are finding reasonable rents in Tarlabasi. Mitch Burmeister, an American university-entrance tutor, rented his first apartment there.
“I knew that it didn’t have the best reputation,” he said, “but I couldn’t pass up the rent. If you think of a city like Chicago, it would be like renting a dirt cheap apartment right off of Michigan Avenue.”
The notion that deep-pocketed foreigners are willing to live there only adds to the motivation for city officials to capitalize on the area, rebranding what was a zone of prostitution and drugs as a safe place to live.
The “new Tarlabasi” is advertised on a large billboard that hides demolished buildings from drivers along Tarlabasi Boulevard. The billboard depicts mostly light-skinned women wearing business clothes and strolling past a mall, an image far from the current reality there. 

While TOKI insists that Tarlabasi will maintain its historical architectural touches, Mr. Adanali fears the transformation will only create a facade to hide a sterile space. “It is a kind of ‘Disneyfication’ in the sense that it’s taking the area’s heritage and making it flashy,” he said, “like a Disney theme park. Everything becomes shallow.”Not all the houses in Tarlabasi are being “regenerated,” but some residents are still nervous about their future. Mrs. Civak said that while her house was not now included in the renewal plan, she could not be certain it would stay that way. “They’ve not told us much about what’s happening,” she said. 

Mr. Yesildas also conceded that he knew little about the project aside from what he had seen on the news. Still, he remains confident that the government’s plan will benefit Tarlabasi.“This area wasn’t meant to be permanent. It was supposed to change,” he said. “It has so many problems that need to be fixed. It should be clean and taken care of.”

Wednesday, 22 February 2012

News on Tarlabaşı from BIANET.ORG

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.
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)

Tuesday, 20 December 2011

Tarlabaşı Boulevard: preparing for demolition


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.

Security guards have mobed in to prevent people from lighting fires; the building blocks are going up with the development logo featuring prominantly. (Jonathan Lewis)
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

Wednesday, 20 July 2011

Tarlabaşı eviction process underway

Small removal trucks dart along Sakızağaç Caddesi, the main artery cutting through the Tarlabaşı Yenileniyor project area, carrying elaborate piles of furniture, bags of clothing, carpets wrapped in cloth.
Ali, who ran a tiny shoeshine store 50 metres off Tarlabaşı Boulevard carries bags filled with shoelaces, brushes, shoe shining creams and pieces of leather down towards Dolapdere. The yellow building where he rented out a small shop in the basement was not sold yet, but, he says, he has found a nice shop just outside the project area. “No use waiting to the very last minute.” he adds. “They’d evict me sooner or later anyways.”
 (Jonathan Lewis)
The urban renewal project Tarlabaşı Yenileniyor was first mentioned in 2006, and slated for completion in 2010. The possibility of demolition has dangled over the neighbourhood like Damocles’ Sword for five years now, with rumours of eviction constantly present: they will come after school is out, after the municipal elections, maybe after school starts, surely after the referendum? While people had started to trickle out of the project area in Tarlabaşı by late 2009, many decided to test fate – and the likelihood of evictions starting just a tad later than official statements made believe.
The last rumoured estimate – that things would get serious after the national elections on June 12, that this time, they would start without any doubt, proved true, and to the surprise of many: After the AKP secured a majority of almost 50%, the AKP-ruled Beyoğlu Municipality has started evictions inside the project area in Tarlabaşı in cooperation with GAP Inşaat, and this time, they move fast. Eviction orders have been distributed to all those residents – both tenants and home owners – whose flats or buildings have been sold, and most residents who have found a home, workshop or shop elsewhere have moved out.
Handan* was evicted on June 24. Her door was welded shut immediately after the police and the municipality cleared out her apartment. “I was in the hospital with my mother when they called me to tell me that I should come to my Tarlabaşı flat immediately. When I did, they had already forced open my door and thrown all my things on the street.” Her son nods. “The police came with gas bombs and everything!” he adds excitedly.
Handan’s husband died five years ago in a car crash, leaving her with her mother and her son who goes to primary school in nearby Cihangır. Handan makes a modest living as a cleaner, wiping staircases in Beyoğlu. “The flat belonged to my husband”, she explains. “I could make ends meet because I did not have to pay rent.” However, since her marriage was only authorised by an imam, and never recognized by the Turkish state, the flat and everything the couple had jointly owned went to the husband’s first and “official” wife that he had never divorced. “She did not tell me that she had sold the flat to GAP”, explains Handan. “So when I received a notice by the company that I would have to clear out of my house, I was deeply shocked.”
The worst thing, she says, was to be treated like a criminal. “The police said I was committing a crime by living in the flat and called me a squatter.” After having received the eviction order, Handan started to look for a flat to rent, but was unable to find something she could afford. “I had bought cardboard boxes, I begged the police to give me one more night to pack my things. I told them that I had been looking for a new apartment but that I didn’t find anything.”  When the police and the municipality-employed packers started to throw her possessions on the street and onto a truck parked outside, Handan had a nervous breakdown. “One of the packers was very sad. He told me that it could have happened to him, that he felt sorry for me”, she recalls. “My neighbours later told me that they took all my things to a municipal storage room. I have not heard from them again, and I don’t know where that storage room is.”
Many of Handan’s neighbours are angry with the municipality and GAP Inşaat for handling evictions like they have with Handan. “How can they throw someone out on the street like that?” asks a local shopkeeper. Her downstairs neighbours, a retired couple from Antakya who have lived in their spacious Tarlabaşı flat for 20 years, feel sorry for the young widow now sitting on their couch for the interview. “If she goes back to her hometown, her father will sell her to an older man in marriage”, says Elif* and Handan nods. “I want to be able to stand on my own feet and provide a good education and a good future for my son. I have nothing left in Ağrı, I cannot go back there.”
Authors Note: We will now closely follow evictions and events as they unfold in the neighbourhood, and deliver more regular updates.
* Name changed by the author

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Tarlabasi evictions - Images by jonathan lewis

Tuesday, 24 May 2011

Metropol Sürgünleri - the metropol shoots


Metropol Sürgünleri from Kara Bayrak on Vimeo.

The text stems from the vimeo page of Kara Bayrak (underneath you find the google translation - very poor, I am sorry)

Kentsel Dönüsüm projesi adi altinda yikimina karar verilen Tarlabasi’ nda, tapulari olmasina ragmen insanlarin barinma hakki da elinden aliniyor. Bir kültür ve bir yasam yok edilmek isteniyor…

Onlar Istanbul’ un ‘ötekileri’ olarak adlandirildilar. Kimileri köyleri yakildigi için, kimileri issizlikten, kimileri ise yasama alani buldugu için siginacak yer olarak seçmisler Tarlabasi’ ni. Bütün hayatlarini köylerinde birakip gelmisler tasi topragi altin denilen Istanbul’ a. Ucuzdu, en azindan baslarini sokacaklari yerleri vardi. Onlar mimari yapiymis, degerliymis, Beyoglu’ nun arka sokagiymis aldirmadilar, yasamak zorundaydilar burayi seçtiler.

Tarlabasi da diger ‘ ötekilestirilmis ‘ mahallelerle ayni kaderi paylasiyor. Kentsel Dönüsümün odak noktasi. Burada biraz daha farkli ilerliyor proje, yasada ‘ yenilme ‘ diye geçip yikim karari çikartiliyor.

Sokaklarda çöpler dolu. Belli ki toplanmiyor. Zaten çöküntü alani olarak gösteriliyor yikim için. Belediyenin hizmet getirmedigini söylüyor mahalle sakinleri.Çöp toplanmadigi, güvenlik saglanmadigi, restore edilmedigi zaman bir alan her gün çürütüle çürütüle çöküntü alani haline getirilebilir. Belediyenin yapmaya çalistigi da bu.

Kentsel Dönüsüm projesi dedikleri projenin altinda yatan büyük rantin pesinde holdingler. Insan yasami hiçbir sey için onlar için. Burada yasayan insanlari kent sürgünlügüne mahkûm ediyorlar. Aldiklari her nefesin hesabini yapiyorlar. Burada Süryani’ si de, Kürt’ ü de, Ermeni’ si de, Rum’ u da, mültecisi de ve travestisi de bir arada yasayabiliyor. Onlar bir yasam bulmuslar, bu yasami da kaybetmek istemiyorlar.

Belediyenin Toki üzerinden Tayyip Erdogan’a yakinligi ile bilinen Çalik Grubu’na ihale ettigi Tarlabasi 1. Etap Kentsel Dönüsüm Projesi ilçe sakinlerini ayaga kaldirdi. 5 katli binalarina sadece 22 metrekarelik dükkan yeri verildigini vurgulayan mülk sahiplerinin yüzde 80'i Çalik Grubu ile anlasmaya yanasmadi. Mülk sahipleri ve kiracilar ‘Tarlabasi islah edilsin, iyilestirilsin; ama rantsal dönüsüm merkezi olmasin” diyor; Çalik, Toki, Belediye ve sermayedarlarsa “Tarlabasi, Tarlabasi’ lilara birakilamayacak kadar degerli bir yer”…


google translator translation:

Urban Transformation Project decided Tarlabasi destruction under the name of 'the, right to shelter in the hands of the people despite its deeds are taken. One is a living culture and asked to be destroyed ...

They are of Istanbul 'the others' are referred to as. Some people burned the villages, some unemployment, for she has found some refuge in the area selected as the legislative Tarlabasi at all. All their lives on the ground in the villages of golden stone came to leave the so-called Istanbul 'a. Cheaper, at least, had their heads sokacaklari places. They yapiymis architecture, degerliymis, Beyonce 's back sokagiymis aldirmadilar, they chose to live here had to.

Tarlabasi the other 'ötekilestirilmis' neighborhoods been sharing the same fate. The focus of urban regeneration. Here, the project is moving a little bit different than the law 'failure' he extracted the decision to go destruction.

Streets full of rubbish. Obviously, not collected. As already showing subsidence area for destruction. The municipality says the district had no service sakinleri.Çöp in session, not provide security, not restored when the field turned into a rink every day çürütüle çürütüle depression. Stays in the municipality to do this.

Urban Transformation project, called the project a large surplus in pursuit of the underlying holdings. Human life to nothing for them. Here, people are living in the city are doomed to sürgünlügüne. Account that which they do every breath. Here Syrian percent, the Kurds 'ü, the Armenian percent, the Greek' u, the refugees can live together in the and travestisi. They have found a life, do not want to lose in this life.

Istanbul Is Naked - Movie by Zafer Biçen


İstanbul Çıplak - Istanbul Is Naked from Kara Bayrak on Vimeo.

Wednesday, 11 May 2011

Kayabaşı Photo Docmentation by Jonathan Lewis

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Tarlabasi blog - Kayabasi Toki - Images by jonathan lewis

found on http://www.tarlabasiistanbul.com/

This is the new settlement by TOKI, Turkish mass housing authority, where the Tarlabaşı renters are supposet to be resettled to.