Roma Call for Support Against Destruction of Neighbourhood

The Roma of Sulukule have called on the public to protest against the destruction of their neighbourhood to mayors, the President Abdullah Gül and Prime Minster Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Emine Özcan

As part of an urban regeneration project in the Istanbul district of Fatih, the neighbourhood of Sulukule is being emptied. Ignoring the demands of local people and rejecting collaboration with NGOs, universities and professional chambers, local authorities are set on carrying out their project.

The Roma have appealed for public support:

"The urban regeneration project means that the Sulukule Roma will be taken out of their neighbourhood and will be settled 40 kilometres outside of the city. In addition, they will be burdened with debts they will never be able to pay," said representatives of the Sulukule Platform.

Violation of heritage conventions

They object to the project on several accounts:

The Sulukule Urban Regeneration Project is not a participatory project.
It violates the decrees of the UN Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage.
The project is planned for an area in the buffer zone near the land walls of Istanbul's historical peninsula, listed on the World Heritage List. This violates the Vienna Memorandum, as well as the UNESCO Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage.

The Platform has appealed to people to voice their protest to the following people:

President Abdullah Gül, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Minister of Culture and Tourism Ertugrul Günay, Mayor of Greater Istanbul Kadir Topbas, and Fatih District Mayor Mustafa Demir.
Roma have been living in the Sulukule area since Byzantian times.(EZÖ/TK/AG)