Sulukule

An academic study conducted at Boğaziçi University on the popularity of Turkish rap music has found that there are different themes and listening habits in two separate working class areas in Istanbul, the district of Bağcılar and the Sulukule neighborhood of the Fatih district.

Hip-hop musician Sultan Tunç will perform at garajistanbul with the participation of Wermonster and DJ Yesta on Nov. 29. Goethe-Institut Istanbul, garajistanbul and Art Anywhere (Her Yerde Sanat) Association have come together to throw an event that will bring the rapper together with disenfranchised youth.

Turkey has been experiencing an ambitious urban transformation process for a couple of years. This initiative, which covers the reconstruction of seven million properties across the country, offers great opportunities to have a housing stock of high quality in Turkey, which has been the site of numerous destructive earthquakes, but the ongoing process has serious judicial problems. 

The saddest story of urban transformation in Istanbul is Sulukule. This neighborhood is known as the one of the oldest Roma settlements in the world. Romani coming from India during the Byzantium era are believed to have settled right next to the city walls of Istanbul. 

The Council of State has approved the cancellation of the controversial urban transformation project in Istanbul?s Sulukule neighborhood, which was historically populated by Roma people, years after the project was completed.