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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ISTANBUL 000166 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM PREL SOCI TU
SUBJECT: REDEVELOPMENT PUSHING OUT THE ROMA 
 
REF: 06 ANKARA 06580 
 
ISTANBUL 00000166  001.2 OF 003 
 
 
----------------------------- 
Redeveloping Sulukule 
----------------------------- 
 
¶1.  (U) The Fatih municipality of Istanbul is demolishing 
substandard homes in the predominantly ethnic Roma area of 
Sulukule to renovate the district before 2010, when Istanbul 
is slated to become the "Cultural Capital of Europe".  A 
total of 541 homes adjacent to the ancient Byzantine city 
wall will be destroyed to make way for 503 faux Ottoman 
townhouses.    This renovation will displace about 3,000 
people whose roots in Sulukule, according to academics, 
predate the Ottoman conquest of Istanbul in 1453.  Despite 
opposition to the project from some human rights groups and 
international media, the municipality has already destroyed 
around fifty homes. The municipality also instructed all 
residents to abandon their homes by mid-June. 
 
--------------------------------------------- --------------- 
Roma Accuse the Municipality of Discrimination 
--------------------------------------------- --------------- 
 
¶2. (SBU)  Sukru Panduk, President of the  Sulukule Romani 
Culture Solidarity and Development  Association, says the 
Fatih municipality's neighborhood renewal is the  last stage 
of a long-term plan to drive Roma out of  Sulukule.  Panduk 
told us that current and past governments have discriminated 
and harassed his community.  He claimed that the municipally 
closed Sulukule entertainment venues in 1992 under the 
pretense of unpaid taxes, thus depriving residents of their 
primary source of employment and income.  Sixteen years of 
limited employment opportunities have taken a toll on the 
community, driving Sulukule to impoverishment and 
dilapidation.   Panduk added that the final phase of the 
municipality's plan is eviction of the Roma. 
 
¶3. (SBU)  Panduk supports the development of Sulukule for the 
 benefit of current residents, but he criticized the 
municipality for using economic development and urban renewal 
as a tool for  the displacement of Roma.  Despite some Roma 
holding Ottoman era land deeds, the municipality under Act 
5366 expropriated their land at a fraction of its market 
value.  The 2005 act gave local government greater powers to 
redevelop shoddy housing.  Panduk accused Fatih Mayor Mustafa 
Demir of selling land in Sulukule to fellow Justice and 
Development Party (AKP) investors, who then resold the land 
for a considerable profit.   Local Istanbul mayors, including 
Fatih Mayor Demir, say Act 5366, the "Renovation and 
Utilization of Deteriorated Cultural Properties Act," is a 
tool designed to return land management to cities.   The 
gecekondu problem in Istanbul is legendary and replacing 
"gecekondus"--literally houses built overnight--is necessary 
to attack building code violations as well as to recover 
government property expropriated by squatters (reftel). 
Panduk, however, stated that this "renovation" comes at the 
expense of the poor  who live in gecekondus. Even those who 
own property in these communities are harmed.  Act 5366 
requires fair compensation to owners of expropriated lands, 
however the committee responsible for accessing the true 
value typically provides an estimate less than the fair 
market value, according to Panduk. 
 
¶4.  (SBU) The Fatih municipality intends to relocate 
residents of Sulukule over 40 kilometers away to government 
housing in Tasoluk.  According to Panduk, this would take 
Roma away from the primary source of income, nightclubs 
around Beyoglu.  Furthermore, most Roma families will find 
even the subsidized rates of the 280 to 450 YTL monthly rents 
at the public housing project in Tasoluk prohibitive. 
Sulukule residents currently pay about 150 YTL per month and 
higher rents may force them to live on the streets.  Panduk 
told us that as of April 4 no Roma have yet relocated to 
Tasoluk despite home demolition, choosing instead to live 
with friends or relatives in Sulukule. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ------- 
Fatih Mayor: "All Gecekondus Must Go" 
 --------------------------------------------- ------ 
 
¶5. (U)  Fatih Mayor Demir said the city needs to create  safe 
housing that meets earthquake and other standards.  At a 
February meeting of the Urban Land Institute in Istanbul 
(ULI), Demir showed a video to contrast overcrowded and aged 
Sulukule housing, with architectural drawings of faux Ottoman 
townhomes designed to replace existing homes.   As compared 
 
ISTANBUL 00000166  002.2 OF 003 
 
 
to existing structures in Sulukule, the new buildings will 
have modern utilities and be built to international 
earthquake standards.  The residents of Sulukule were offered 
modern low cost public housing without going through the 
lottery process; the typical procedure for government 
subsidized housing. Without mentioning the Roma by name, 
Demir stressed that this project would improve the lives of 
those living in these deprived conditions. 
 
--------------------------------------------- --------- 
Destroying the Cultural Heritage of Sulukule 
 --------------------------------------------- -------- 
 
¶6. (U)  Demir, and the other local mayors who spoke at the 
ULI conference maintained that legislation such as Act 5366 
is critical to tackling gecekondu proliferation.  These 
unplanned substandard buildings posed a safety risk and make 
coordinated urban planning nearly impossible. Also Act 5366 
calls for the restoration of cultural properties, which Demir 
emphasized that Fatih municipality took great pains to 
identify and then preserve.  Academic and media skeptics in 
the audience questioned the plan's commitment to preserving 
the historical aspects of Fatih.  One academic stated that 
building modern townhouses adjacent to the ancient city walls 
fails to maintain the historical heritage of Sulukule. Demir 
disagreed, stated that the municipality worked with the 
architects to preserve the area's character. 
 
¶7. (SBU) Panduk also criticized to us the municipality's 
efforts towards cultural preservation. Panduk showed us a 
modern public swimming pool complex only meters away from the 
old city walls, a Fatih municipality redevelopment project. 
In additional to the stark architectural contrast with the 
Byzantine walls, Panduk criticized the project's lack of 
connection to the community since most Roma do not swim, 
preferring to dance and sing.  As evidence of the Mayor's 
lack of commitment to preservation, Panduk also showed us a 
deteriorating Ottoman house that the municipality listed as a 
cultural preservation site.  Finally Panduk stated that 
expelling the Roma with its deep roots in the area, would be 
the greatest cultural loss to Sulukule. 
 
 
---------------------------- 
International Criticism 
---------------------------- 
 
¶8. (U)  The plan to evict Roma from their millennium-old 
neighborhood has garnered mostly negative local and 
international press attention.  Stories mention Sulukule as a 
venue for Turkish music and belly dancing and scenes from 
007,s "From Russia with Love" were filmed in Sulukule.  An 
Italian website offers visitors a chance to sign a petition 
calling for protection of "the oldest Roma community in the 
world."   UNESCO, according to press reports has designated 
the area a World Heritage Site. For his part, Panduk hopes 
international criticism places Istanbul's designation as 2010 
Cultural Capital of Europe in jeopardy if the municipality 
continues its plan to "destroy the cultural heritage of 
Istanbul."  Prime Minister Erdogan vehemently disagreed with 
the critics of this project, saying those who wish to 
preserve Sulukule have never visited the "ugly" site. 
 
------------ 
Comment 
------------ 
 
¶9. (SBU)  Istanbul's Roma minority was likely able to stay in 
Sulukule for centuries since this location was literally the 
edge of the city wall. However a rapidly growing population 
and increased land competition with attendant hikes in real 
estate prices have turned Sulukule into prime real estate 
with profits to be made in upscale Sulukule housing. 
Sulukule, like many other older, low-income Istanbul 
neighborhoods is a squalid area that could benefit from urban 
renewal, yet the municipality appears to be taking advantage 
of this situation to evict a longstanding Roma population 
including some landowners with clear title to their property. 
 The GOT has made some efforts to provide for the relocation 
of the Roma, yet Panduk raised valid concerns regarding 
families' ability to afford public housing as well as the 
lack of traditional employment opportunities in the remote 
location. This episode demonstrates the enhanced powers that 
municipalities now have to create "urban renewal".  While 
local governments do need to eliminate the vast problem of 
"gecekondus" that have proliferated over the county, Act 5366 
provides officials with a powerful tool to reshape their 
 
ISTANBUL 00000166  003.2 OF 003 
 
 
jurisdictions that could potentially be targeted against 
political opponents as well as ethnic minorities.  The 
apparent ease with which the Fatih municipality  is evicting 
the Sulukule Roma may encourage other mayors to gentrify 
rundown neighborhoods that process "undesirable" residents. 
 
 
¶10. (SBU)  Although nearly all of the existing homes in 
Sulukule are shoddy 20th century structures with no 
historical or architectural value, academics have complained 
the proposed re-development fails to live up to the area's 
rich cultural legacy.  The artist's drawings for the planned 
development look like a modern suburban community, completely 
without reference to the neighboring historic areas including 
Istanbul's Byzantine-era city walls.  The newly built 
swimming pool complex also appears to be at odds with the 
municipality's stated goal that the redevelopment of the 
district will reflect the historic and cultural assets of the 
ancient city.   Although destroying most of the structures in 
Sulukule would not be a great loss; removing a community who 
has ties to the land for centuries would be an irrevocable 
cultural calamity.  Despite media attention to this issue, 
there is apparently no strong international pressure to 
abandon this project and at this stage, additional influence 
would unlikely reverse the decision to evict the Roma. 
 
WIENER