Bosphorus View Neighborhood Resists Urban Transformation: 'We Have Nowhere to Go'

Photos: Evrim Kepenek / bianet

Click to read the article in Turkish

Construction waste, dust and half-demolished buildings... This is Kirazlıtepe, a neighborhood overlooking the Bosphorus in İstanbul's Asian-side district of Üsküdar.

Partly because of its location, the neighborhood has been in an urban transformation period for nearly three years.

Most of the 750 property owners agreed to urban transformation projects but there are 150 to 200 property owners still not giving up their premises, according to the Kirazlı Association.

'They don't provide services, they want us to leave'

"We lost our humanity here. [With] our cats, our children, we live in this rubble. We don't have a healthy living space. Our psychology is broken," says Şükran A., one of those still living in the neighborhood.

"Those who left the neighborhood left after pressures. As a result of the urban transformation, which they said they would do without harm, no peace is left in the neighborhood. Streets are muddy, there are no sidewalks. Not providing municipal service here, they want us to go."

"The view we see in this area doesn't give peace to us. To whomever we applied, our applications are not taken seriously. We applied to the İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality. They were going to be mediators and the issue would be resolved through Üsküdar [district] Municipality.

"But they took out the Metropolitan Municipality. Because they canceled the agreement with them, [the Metropolitan Municipality] can't do anything. There was just one door we would knock on, the Metropolitan Municipality, and they blocked that."

'We will fight even if there is just one of us'

"This is our home, our only future. We don't want to give this place. Our home is safe here. We don't want to leave here. We will fight even if there is just one of us. Where else can we go from here?" says Ayşe Güneş, another resident.

A family we encountered while walking around the neighborhood point towards construction sites and say, "We are living in this dust cloud. Who will say 'Stop' to this? There is just one thing we want, they should give us what is our right.

'We will place you in a hotel'

Engin Kurtköy says, "We have nowhere to go. They came last week, in a bullying way, they asked us to leave home. They said, 'There is an eviction order,' they said, 'We will place you in a hotel'. We didn't leave. We have nowhere to go. How long can we live in a hotel anyway?"

"Friends from the association came. We filed a lawsuit. [The court] gave a verdict of suspension of execution. They came this morning despite the court verdict. They came with the riot police. They left after [we] showed the court verdict. They said they would come again Wednesday. We don't know what to do. We don't want to leave our home."

About Kirazlıtepe

Kirazlıtepe, formerly Çakaltepe, was a migrant-receiving area from the late 1960s to 1980s. The people who migrated during this period are thought to have formed the core of its current population.

At the time, residents of the neighborhood collectively made some infrastructure work, such as placing electric poles.

Near the Çamlıca Hill in Üsküdar, the neighborhood has a nice view of the Bosphorus strait.

Before the urban transformation project began, there were around 3,500 people and 750 property owners in the neighborhood.

It was first declared an urban transformation zone in 2015. In the following year, Kirazlıtepe was declared a "special project zone" as part of the Çamlıca Mosque project and authorities stated that property owners would get a 60 percent share in the new buildings.

Many people agreed to projects after February 2017, when the Housing Development Administration of Turkey (TOKİ) moved in. Demolition started in Kirazlıtepe in August 2017.

About the urban transformation law

According to Law No. 6306 on the Regeneration of Areas under Disaster Risk, which came into force in 2012, the government should determine the risk areas and make them livable and healthy.

Risky buildings should be demolished and new buildings should be built using state credits, rent aid and tax advantages, the law says.

The Law also provides for the principles and procedures of risk assessment, determination of areas at risk, evacuation, demolition of buildings and sets out provisions concerning the implementation of the restructuring of these areas.

(EMK/VK)