TURKEY: NGO programme for children is bulldozed in urban makeover

Bulldozers were once again seen on Sulukule district’s dusty and muddy streets. Driving past decrepit houses and residents surrounding fires in old garbage bins trying to keep warm, their target this time was home to a children’s workshop.

The bulldozers have already demolished about 80 percent of this area, which once housed more than 3,500 people, after the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality in cooperation with Housing Development Administration of Turkey, or TOKİ, and Fatih Municipality pushed the button to launch the urban transformation project.

With the project, one of the world’s unique cultures is being pulverized. As the bulldozers moved in, the anxiety of thousands of Roma people was reflected in their faces. Children, it seemed, were the most aware of the tension in the air, but they carried on playing in silence.

The workers yesterday destroyed a house instead of the workshop that was built eight months ago by a nongovernmental organization, or NGO, and voluntary civilians willing to defend the rights of Sulukule's Roma community. They urged the authorities to allow time to relocate the workshop that was built for Roma children as a place to escape the hardship of their daily lives and to continue their education.

Talented children

Children between the ages of 3 and 13 were able to attend the Sulukule Children’s Workshop whenever they wanted, for free. With percussions instruments in their hands, they formed the Sulukule Children’s Orchestra. Those who were talented in break dancing, painting and singing saw the workshop as their second home. But now they are on the knife’s edge, not knowing when the bulldozers may come to demolish their only entertainment.

"We laid the foundations of the children’s workshop, where children learn the alphabet and attend many activities. The idea came up during another event we organised to promote the Roma culture.

After opening the doors for children, we were supported mainly by volunteers and university students," said Aslı Kıyak İngin, a member of Sulukule Platform. "Children here are so depressed by the ’gentrification,’ as UNESCO calls it in its last report released after their visit to Sulukule in May."

Noting that children did not want to leave the neighbourhood for fear of losing their houses and the workshop, İngin said they were sad when they learned that they would lose the workshop, too. Children are facing serious problems in Sulukule, they are injured while playing and catch diseases, she said. "The demolitions shouldn’t continue while there are still people living in the area," said İngin.

Hacer Foggo, another member of the Sulukule Platform, said an 8-month-old baby named Gökhan Batu died two months ago because of the unhealthy environment. "After the president of the Sulukule Foundation of Development and Mutual Benefit, Şükrü Pündük, called the municipality, the workers did not demolish the workshop, but the only thing we know is they will come back again within a few days."

’Could the mayor live here for one day?’

The neighbourhood is full of debris, rats and waste, Foggo said. "Education of the children should be undertaken by the government, for now the NGO’s are the only ones that struggle to help the Roma and the helpless people here need the support of government entities."

Foggo angrily asked if government officials could bear to live in such dire conditions and said they visited the mayor offering alternative projects but nothing changed. Foggo said the platform members could not call this project one of urban transformation, as the municipality has never opened an office where people could consult and ask for advice.

Funda Ural, who is in charge of the children that attend the workshop, said: "The municipality should have considered developing the workshop instead of planning to demolish it." She said demolition even harmed the relations between the Roma, who are known for their close ties to each other and warm friendships.

Benan Baykal, provincial deputy chairman from Republican People's Party, or CHP, agrees that the municipality’s project doesn’t suit any of the criteria of an urban transformation project. "The government takes advantage of the illiteracy of the Roma people, yet they regulate further steps and take legal action," she said.

’Illegal workshop’

On behalf of the Fatih Municipality, spokesperson Yahya Koçoğlu said stopping the demolition was no longer a possibility. Noting that the workshop was a coffee house named ’Şükrü’nün kahvesi,’ Koçoğlu said there was no registration made to the municipality to open any workshop or school for children, so according to the municipality the place was not legal.

According to the investigation that Koçoğlu made in a few minutes, he found that the landlord was Zeki Güveyler, who gave permission to the municipality to demolish the house. "That’s why it may be demolished in a few days," Koçoğlu said. "Each building will be demolished. It doesn’t matter if it is a workshop or an office."

In the new project, the municipality is planning to build culture and rehabilitation centers for Sulukule.

Further information

• Special CRINMAIL on Roma and child rights
• "The key to the promotion of Roma rights: early and inclusive education" (Council of Europe) (April 2008)
• More on child rights in Turkey