Civilizing the Kurdish Population of Ayazma: Ayazma / Tepeüstü Urban Transformation Project -Küçükçekmece Istanbul

Abstract

Ayazma/Tepeüstü urban transformation project in Küçükçekmece (2004-2007) happens to be the first and the largest urban transformation project implemented in Istanbul so far. It is also the first project targetting a homogenous population.4 It impacted the lives of 1440 familes, a populaton of about 7800 persons, mainly from Ayazma. Ayazma and Tepeüstü neighbourhoods were “cleansed” for regenera- tion and opened up to developers for prestigious projects while the inhabitants composed mainly of the urban poor were subjected to forced evictions and displacement from their decades old settlements, encountering serious economic deprivations, violations of social and cultural rights and psychological traumas engendered by the relocation. The study is based on a research conducted in the relocation site betweeen October 2008-February 2009, almost 2 years after the relocation. In depth interviews were carried out with 75 persons, comprising mainly relocated residents in Bezirganbahçe Mass Housing Administration (TOKI) blocks. Some NGO representatives, civil servants and officials from the municipality were also interviewed. The study focuses on the social, cultural and psychological aspects of the project which disregarded the distinctive culture, tradition and custom of the Kurdish community and the social engineering mechanisms imposed through “civilization” projects named “How to live in an apartment-building”. Hostilities between ethnic groups and polarization in the relocation site were other findings of the study. The study also discloses the criminalization of the urban poor (and minorities) as a legitimization tool to intervene into urban space.