Tarlabasi, the Hidden Face of Istanbul by Guillaume Poli
From Guillaume Poli:
Spread between Turkey, Iran, Irak and Syria, the Kurds make the world’s biggest landless minority. In Turkey, they represent 25% of the population and despite this, they face a significant assimilation policy.
Have they not been called “The Mountainous Turks” due to their original lands in the mountains in EasternTurkey ? The ratified Kurdistan at the treaty of Sevres was a born dead country, rebaptised later as « Anatolia ». The Kurds are undergoing discrimination in the workplace and their language is not taught in schools.
The Kurdish Tarlabasi quarter is located in the city center of Istanbul. A stone’s throw away: Istiklal Avenue whose rich-looking buildings, trendy shops and the million of visitors each week earned it the nickname of the « Champs Elysées » of Istanbul.
In this pocket of poverty, doomed to gentrification, the threat of expulsion hangs over the inhabitants. In the name of mass tourism and for political reasons a community lifestyle is in peril.
See the essay at: guillaumepoli.viewbook.com.
