Residents of working-class neighborhood in İstanbul vow to resist in face of forced evictions

Photo: MA

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On October 8, the police forcibly evicted people from their homes in the Tozkoparan Neighborhood of İstanbul's Güngören district in the name of "urban transformation."

Resistance in the neighborhood continued when law enforcement officers entered the community at around 5 a.m. in the morning. When construction machines entered for demolition, buildings' electricity, water and gas were cut off.

Tozkoparan and the neighboring Mehmet Nesih Özmen district were declared an "urban transformation area" in 2006 and a "risky area" in 2013.

Residents have been resisting urban transformation projects since the area was marked as a "disaster area" by a Presidential Decree on April 21, 2020. Inhabitants of the working-class neighborhood say that it was declared a "risky zone" because of its proximity to a commercial center. 

Nesih Özmen Neighborhood is also known as İstanbul's Cuba because of its socialist background.

CLICK - İstanbul's 'Cuba neighborhood' resists 'commercially driven' urban transformation

"Rental transformation"

During the two-decade rule of the Justice and Development Party (AKP), multiple laws have given more authority to the government to demolish houses for "risk reduction," especially for earthquakes.

According to various critics, including opposition politicians and professional organizations, these measures legitimize extraordinary expropriation procedures.

"Urban transformation" is widely dubbed by critics as "rental transformation", implying that the government's priority is not to improve earthquake safety but to boost the economy through construction.

There are similar concerns in Tozkoparan, as inhabitants of the area say that they are not against the urban transformation but against the rent-based transformation.

"People have nowhere to go"

Speaking to the Mezopotamya Agency (MA), Ömer Kiriş, President of the Tozkoparan and Nesih Özmen Neighborhoods Culture and Solidarity Association (TOZDER), "They have plans and ideas to build a shopping mall, residence and hotel here."

Onur Cingil, the lawyer of the neighborhood's residents, emphasized that Tozkoparan was declared a risky area unlawfully.

"What they want to do here is to evacuate the poor class right next to Merter and turn this place into a commercial point," he told MA. "People had to pack their belongings in a hurry. They have nowhere to go. They also cut off electricity, water and gas. It is not clear what the people will do. "

Nuri Ural, one of the residents of the neighborhood, who also spoke to MA, said that their houses have proprietorship certificates but got an annotation in December 2020. "We have nothing now, and they are oppressing us. We continue our rightful resistance.

"We will resist as long as we can. We are here until our terms are accepted. We want what is rightfully ours. We want to have our homes without paying any fees."

Ömer Kiriş assured that they will apply to the Constitutional Court (AYM) in the coming days. "Maybe they will demolish all our buildings. Perhaps some top managers in the municipality will fill their pockets, we are aware of this, but we will use our legal rights to the fullest.

"People here agree to urban transformation after their rights are given. If you take the flats of these people and condemn them to extinction, it will not be fair. That's why the fight will continue." (TY/WM/VK)