Romani Neighborhood Seeks Solution

The people of the Roma neighborhood that has started to be demolished as part of urban transformation are reacting. The Roma community is trying to make their voices heard against this transformation that was carried out without considering their needs and demands.

The people of the Sarıgöl neighborhood where the Roma people live in the Gaziosmanpaşa district, where the urban transformation and demolition continue, are reacting to the demolitions.

Representatives of civil society organizations organized a tour of the neighborhood with architect Korhan Gümüş within the scope of the ROMDİTA project.

Meetings were held with the residents of the neighborhood, especially Şadi Çatı, one of the leaders of the struggle, at the mosque.

The Roma community, who live under social exclusion and lack basic needs such as education and health, are trying to make their voices heard against this transformation that was carried out without considering their needs and demands.

The state is not talking to us

The people are most angry at the state authorities who do not listen to their problems from their own mouths in the demolition that was carried out without considering the needs and demands of the people, because it is visually polluted and a crumbling area.

Three of the 300 residents of the neighborhood that they promised houses with pools were provided with housing. The people, who stated that the real aim was to drive the people away and that they were clearly discriminated against, only wanted the construction equipment to be removed from the area.

The people, who stated that they would also support urban transformation on condition that it was repaired and reinforced, live in fear of being displaced from the neighborhood they have been living in for fifty years.

Their only wish is to stay in the neighborhood

There are those who say that the residents of the neighborhood were forced to sign a paper stating that they gave their homes to the municipality according to their own will. They say that they were intimidated by the risk of earthquakes and that they called people one by one and tried to convince them against the demolition.

The people, who stated that there have been human rights violations against the Romani people for years, draw attention to the fact that the greatest peace for them is to continue their lives together, even if they are hungry and thirsty, with the neighborly relations they have established. The mosque they built together with their own hands is also in danger of collapse; they complain that they will not even have a place to pray.

They live on 300 liras a month

While their average rent before the transformation was around 400 liras, today the lowest rent is 750 liras; They say that with the increase in unemployment, the neighborhood youth are most likely doing temporary jobs for the season and earning salaries that do not reach a thousand liras per month and trying to get by with their families on 300 liras per month.

It is stated that the 50,000 liras given to the victimized families by the state is insufficient to move and pay rent after the family inherits a deeded house and is divided among an average of 5 children.

They complain that the land has increased in value due to the mass housing and shopping mall constructions in Gaziosmanpaşa in recent years; but they are the ones who suffer. These people who do not comply with the capitalist system, who have no eye on money, and who have never looked at the world like this before; say that it is not the buildings that are collapsing on these streets full of rubble, but they themselves.

What happened?

A total of 4 million 300 thousand square meters of land in Gaziosmanpaşa was declared a risky area within the scope of the "disaster law" numbered 6306.

The neighborhood residents had previously applied to the Council of State for a stay of execution and cancellation of the Ministry's risky area decision. The legal process is ongoing.

The sale of "Sarıgöl City Residences", which rose on the site of Sarıgöl neighborhood, where mostly Roma people live, opposite the Vialand park that opened last year, has already started.

bianet had previously brought to the agenda the victimization experienced by the Roma people who were forced to migrate for the third time in the transformation of Sarıgöl.

Pınar Ağabeyoğlu - Hikmet Adal

19.06.2014

Source: BİANET