Sulukule

Sulukule (Turkish: Water Tower / aqueous Tower ) is a historic neighborhood in Istanbul's Fatih.

Name

Sulukule is a collective term for today's districts Kürkçübaşı, Atikmustafapaşa, Balat, Karabaş, Tahta Minaret, and Hatice Sultan Neslisah. The area directly inside the Theodosian land walls was before the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople, the western part of the Byzantine district Phanari.

History

Sulukule was considered the oldest Roma quarter of the world. Here for more than a thousand years, Roma lived. The legendary musician of the district were asked in the Byzantine imperial court.

Sulukule was a problem neighborhood in the eyes of the city administration. Unemployment and - as a result of it - poverty were widespread. Added to this was that many buildings were built without permits and with inadequate resources. The residents living here for generations had created an economic system that was based on the entertainment in certain places of amusement. The customers got food, alcohol, Roma music and scantily clad dancing girls offered. In addition to the direct work in this area ends sources of income for street vendors and taxi drivers were created in the environment. Under the pretext here would prostitution operated, these were places from which virtually the entire district was economically dependent, officially closed in the course of the 1990s.

In spring 2007, some of the simple houses were demolished. In November 2007, the European Parliament also dealt with the demolition and resettlement plans. In April and May 2009, the historic district was almost completely leveled and sealed off by a fence. The hitherto remaining 3400 residents, mostly Roma, had to give way to other urban areas. The end of 2011 was a big part of the new construction, consisting of three - to four-storey terraced houses nearly completed either or was under construction. Few traces of the former buildings were still recognizable. Sulukule is considered as a typical case for a designated as gentrification economic and social restructuring of a traditional lower-class residential area.

Culture

Characteristic of Sulukule were the famous Roma music styles Çiftetelli and Karşılama. The most important instruments were the violin, Çifte Nagara (small goblet drum pair) and the frame drum def. The dancers played finger cymbals ( zil ). End of the 19th century, the older style of dance raks was complemented by influences of Egyptian belly dance. In the 20th century it developed into a oryantal called mix of styles was also performed by professional dance troupes wandering.

Discography

• Rom Music of Istanbul. Sulukule. Traditional Crossroads 4289, produced by Harold G. Hagopian and Uzeli Plak. New York 1998

Movies

• My house was in Sulukule. Documentary, 94 min, Austria in 2010, directed by. Astrid Heubrandtner