There is no honour in killing

Turkey is, by far, the European
gay man was killed in what is every week. The United Nations
country where honour killings
are most prevalent. Women are
being beaten and killed because
they have boyfriends or engage
in an affair. And not just women.
In 2008, Ahmet Yildiz, a young
believed to have been the coun-
try’s first gay honour killing to
surface publicly. In Istanbul
alone, a recent official report
from the government said that
there was one honour killing
Population Fund estimates that
5,000 honour killings take place
globally every year…
>>p6-7
BÜRDE ÖZCAKIR, SERCIM AYYILDIZ
SUSANA ALMEIDA RIBEIRO

“Are you aware of the

danger if Facebook
closes?”
In a country that hits interna- social media has lead to real
tional headlines mostly in the change in feminist activism. But

Music is the people

context of honour killings or
headscarf bans, the popularity
of Twitter users who talk openly
The rhythm of Istanbul is changing. Music helps Roma people to openly about their sex lives and
find their place in the cultural capital of Europe 2010. The Roma
bring extra color to the artistic life of the city. However, not
who aren’t afraid of ridiculing
the country’s establishment and
the popularity of ‘sex bloggers’
everything is perfect: integration and modernization create new
problems. >>p8 might be surprising to outsiders.
But not here, in Turkey. It might
Adi Halfon, Erdinç Utku, Margareta Tomo, Veronique Leblanc be still too early to say that the
it started to challenge the lan-
guage that is used for describ-
ing the gender roles. It started
to challenge the discourse that
is used in the media, where spe-
cific roles and appropriate ways
of behaviour are attached to
Breaking
women. >>p3
SUNNY HUNDAL the taboos
SİMLA YERLİKAYA
GEORGETA BOCŞE

Taking off her sweater

EDUARDO DEL CAMPO
Talking about the controversial
issue of the Armenian Genocide
could send you to prison only a
`I receive death thread letters` and she added, `I’ve been called an Armeni- decade ago in Turkey, but some
an Kurdish prostitute` for defending their rights. My name was put in porn scholars and activists both Arme-
sites as an insult` One of the most controversial woman journalists in Tur- nian and Turkish have broken the
key is Ayse Hur who writes in Taraf newspaper. Because she is a woman, taboo in the last years and now
she was economically challenged, alienated and didn’t belong to the circle the debate could lead in the near
of `White Turks` academic and social elite. She tells the striking facts about future to a normalization and an
her life such as working like a man, earning like a woman. >>p2 impartial approach to history as
it happened. >>p4-5
IDIL MESE & MIROSLAVA SIMONOVSKA

All the roads lead to Istanbul Scarf ban still a bottleneck

Since the 19th century, large number of people
migrated from Balkans to Turkey. Most find their
place in Istanbul since it was a big and a multicul- for career-aspirant women
in Turkey
tural city. They belonged to different ethnic groups,
however one thing common was among them was
that they were considered as Muslims and they
all had the desire to be a part of the new Turkish
Despite the fact that an overwhelming majority of the Turkish population is Mus-
society. According to Focus Migration, a Germany
lim, there is a headscarf problem that begs settlement. In Turkey, state offices do
based institute, from in 1923 until 1997, more than
not hire headscarf-wearing women. These women are also denied employment
Two worlds
1.6 million immigrants arrived and settled in Tur-
in most private companies. They are not elected to Parliament, either. >>p9
key. The biggest immigration wave happened dur- BETÜL AKKAYA DEMIRBAŞ & BRUNO HORTA İSTANBUL
ing 1989 when 320,000 Bulgarian Turks escaped a
campaign of forced assimilation. >>p12
MIROSLAV TODOROVIC AND CEMIL GULER
in one planet The rainbow’s uals, as Anil Tass and Sevval Kliger,
who testify on the discriminations
they experience everyday. It is dif-
MINHAC ÇELİK colors
NATHALIE CAPRIOLI
ficult to have a minority sexual ori-
entation but activists fight to defend
their rights rather successfully. Sev-
In this historical part of Istan- Our work is a report on gay com-
val Kilig “Our group (lamda) is based
bul, rather popular, several doz- munities, lesbians, bisexuals and
on the idea that the freedom of the
en men with sticks and pepper transsexuals. 99% Muslim country,
homosexuals will be also a freedom
spray attacked an art gallery Turkey does not criminalize sexual
for all the heterosexuals’’ >>p12
during the opening of an exhi- minorities, unlike many other Mus-
bition. Who and why? lim countries, but barely tolerates.
OUSMANE NDIAYE – VINCENZO
>>p10-11 We met transsexuals and homosex-
SASSU - CHATRINE VUYLSTAKE
PRİNT PRESS PARTİCİPANTS >>>
Aris NALCI | Serçim AYYILDIZ | Georgeta BOCSE | Nathalie CAPRIOLI | Minhac ÇELIK |EdouardoDEL CAMPO CORTES | Betül Akkaya DEMIRBAS | Faïza
GHOZALI | Cemil GÜLER |Ovadia Adi HALFON | Bruno HORTA | Sunny HUNDAL | Véronique LEBLANC | Idil MESE | Bürde ÖZCAKIR | Vincenzo SASSU
Miroslava SIMONOVSKA | Miroslav TODOROVIC |Catherine VUYLSTEKE | Simla YERLIKAYA | Margareta TOMO | Erdinc UTKU | Ousmane NDIYAE
 Taking off her sweater
Ayse Hur from Turkey has never undressed her burden of being invisible as
a woman journalist in print media
S he said, `I receive
death thread letters`
and she added, `I’ve
been called an Armenian
Kurdish prostitute` for de-
fending their rights. My
name was put in porn sites
as an insult` One of the most
controversial woman journal-
ists in Turkey is Ayse Hur who
writes in Taraf newspaper.
Because she is a woman, she
was economically challenged,
alienated and didn’t belong
to the circle of `White Turks`
academic and social elite.
She tells the striking facts
about her life such as work-
ing like a man, earning like a
woman.
Istanbul is the only city in the
world which is divided in two
continents by the sea. How-
ever, the city itself, didn’t em-
brace it’s children equally as
the sea did. We got on a boat
from the European to the
Asian side of Istanbul, just
to find the woman who was
made vulnerable because
she was discriminated as a
female journalist in a man
oriented Turkish print me-
dia. She welcomed us with a
pleasant smile as if she had
a lot to tell but she couldn’t
before.
A victim of hate speech
A journalist is not seen fre-
quently in porn web sites if
they didn’t shoot any porn
movies. However, Ayse Hur`s
name is put in the category
of `Kurdish and Armenian
prostitutes` just because she
defends minority rights. Peo-
ple in social media who use
hate speech against Kurdish
and Armenian minorities
direct sexual insults towards
this journalist for she is a
woman. Ayse said that she
was shocked when she heard
about this issue. She consid-
ers this attack as their lack
of credibility to debate on
historical facts so that they
reach for blackening her mor-
al image. She also said that
she received a death thread
letter from Izmir but this nei-
ther harmed her nor stopped
her from writing in her
courageous style. She said, `I
am a woman of 78` genera-
IDIL MESE & MIROSLAVA SIMONOVSKA
tion, when Turkey faced the
road to military coup, I’m not
afraid of anything. `
Sweater as her identity
Not having her physical ap-
pearance on TV frequently,
doesn’t hide her gender. The
photo of Ayse Hur on her
page reveals her identity. `
That photo provokes men.` -
she said although her pri-
mary intention was not that,
` I heard from many people
that they read my articles
as they are flirting with me.
My photo arouses erotic
desire for some reason.` She
claimed that even some of
her Kurdish readers wanted
her to give them the sweater
she wore on that photo,
maybe because the colours
of her sweater resembled the
Kurdish flag. When we asked
her if this was offensive for
her, she said, ` I wanted to
get rid of that photo, but
people told me they were in
love with it so I don’t know
whether it is disturbing or
flattering.`
Turkish society is very liberal
and conservative at the same
time. However, a picture of
a good woman often has
the frame of religion. Even
though Ayse is an atheist she
doesn’t shout it in her page
publicly, neither she shouts
that she accepts the Arme-
nian genocide. She prefers
to write her opinions with a
style which goes round the
main topic, not with ex-
tremely sharp words.
‘Well-mannered woman
journalist’
To maintain the dialogue, she
discusses that negotiation is
the right path to solve this
discrimination and give away
to topics that are not dis-
cussed freely. However, when
she receives emails celebrat-
ing religious holidays, she
politely responds that she
is an atheist. Unfortunately
in stead of accepting her as
herself, Muslim men who like
her articles, try to persuade
Ayse to Islam. They even sent
her religious books in order
to convince her. They believe
that every good woman has
a sparkle of Islam religion
which is waiting to be awak-
ened inside.
Women in Turkish print
media are usually allowed to
write about foreign affairs,
economics, health and fam-
ily and of course magazine
news. They are not favoured
in politics pages. Ayse who
is a graduate of History and
who double majored on
international relations and
political science, writes about
history which is a very men –
oriented ` positive science.`
For example Ayse says that
men journalists frequently
refer to one another as they
have a ` ring brotherhood`
as she defines it. On the
contrary, women historian
journalists are not seen as
convenient as men in terms
of being reliable. History is
regarded of a field of men
academicians and it is written
as a victory or a distraction
fight with each other on your
columns and write com-
ments from your ivory tower.
However, she likes some of
of `mankind.` Therefore she this kind of woman writers
says, instead of criticizing my for they are good warriors,
context, they’re trying to find strongly opinionated and
insignificant reasons such as very intellectual. Though she
spelling mistakes, mistakes in doesn’t reject that they are
the sentence structure or just extremely arrogant and she
minor mistakes about dates. thinks that she is invisible in
`As a woman journalist, I am the eyes of the audience and
invisible.` the circle of woman writers.
She says, ` Perihan Magden is
Work like a man, earn like a extremely arrogant though I
woman adore her language and opin-
ions, we walk on the same
Is a woman’s labour less road. I like Nuray Mert’s
worted than of a man’s? strong stand but I dislike her
Ayse`s reality confirms that `knowing all` - attitude. ` Peri-
women journalist are often han Magden doesn’t even
paid even double less than have an email address `and
men even their media prod- she adds ` I am not cool nor
ucts are similar in context. I can hang out in the places
She asked one day to Markar where these good earning
Esayan, the editorial coordi- women neither gather nor
nator, ` Why doesn’t a man join their trips. `
journalist refer to her` and Is spite of all discrimination
she received an astonish- she faces, Ayse Hur believes
ing answer, `Because you in the future where women
are a woman journalist and can speak more freely with
perhaps if you were a man, the movements of liberals
things would be different`. from every political party
It is even more interesting joining their power, she
that women writers are in believes that women writers
constant conflict while men will be able to express their
in the print media beck up thoughts without listening
themselves. She explains this to various kinds of insults,
as it is the only way a woman threads or without being
could earn more popularity. invisible in print media. There
Ayse doesn’t think that are still democracy lessons to
she belongs to the circle of be learned to overcome gen-
`White Turkish` women in her der discrimination. She looks
society. In her opinion you forward for the days when
need to be unreachable, not discriminative ideologies will
to respond to your readers, be a tale of the past.
“Are you aware of the dan-
ger if Facebook closes?”
SUNNY HUNDAL
SIMLA YERLIKAYA

“A
woman who talks
about sexuality
would of course
be disdained in
a country where sanitary
towels were [until recently]
wrapped up in newspapers
and put in black bags. What’s
the big surprise there.”
PinkFreud - one of Turkey’s
most popular Tweeters with
over 22,000 followers - isn’t
afraid of ridiculing the coun-
try’s establishment. Speaking
anonymously (she is yet to
reveal her identity), she is
dismissive of her critics: “I
think the reason why people
judge me is because peo-
ple they don’t know how a
woman could become so
popular. They think ‘how can
we attack her?’, and they say,
‘you use sexuality too much’.”
She pokes fun at the Presi-
dent too, in reference to the
recent bans on websites:
“Dear @cbabdullahgul could
you give me your computer? student. es about one of Turkey’s top don’t tone down their harsh Tweet: “Are you aware of the
Half the web pages can’t be Youngsters here are so into gay fashion designers, she re- rhetoric.” danger if Facebook closes?
viewed in mine. I guess the Facebook that several wom- ported the page to Facebook, But it definitely makes it We go 10 years backwards:
DNS settings on yours are en we spoke to said it was a she says proudly. easier to flirt and chat with no research about ex-boy-
better.” constant source of tension Another student says she men, she adds coyly. But that friends, no chance to see
PuCCaa is even more popular between couples. Several shared and promoted a video also makes it difficult for peo- their pictures.”
with around 45 thousand fol- relationships had soured over tackling domestic violence, ple in relationships.
lowers on Twitter and writes suspicions that the other was created by the Turkish NGO Puccaa says in a recent
freely about sex and getting flirting with the opposite sex Mor Cati.
drunk. online. Of course it’s still too early
In a country that hits interna- Merve Mit, a student from to say that Facebook has
tional headlines mostly in the Bahcesehir university tells us actually lead to real change
context of honour killings or that it is slowly changing soci- in feminist activism. But
headscarf bans, the popular- ety because it allows women it started to challenge the
ity of ‘sex bloggers’ is per- to be more open. “In Turkey language that is used for
haps surprising to outsiders. we don’t talk about sex and describing the gender roles.
Not here. relationships openly.” Face- It started to challenge the
Turks have taken to social book, she says, in one sense gender discourse that is used
media like ducks to water. allows them to embrace their in the media, where specific
They are the fourth biggest gender identity. It’s allowing roles and appropriate ways
users on Facebook by coun- us to talk about more than of behaviour are attached to
try, and are overwhelmingly just religion.” women.
young. Last year, when a 17 year old Furthermore, social media
Sex-blogging aside, we want- girl was killed by her boy- also ends up entrenching

ed to find out whether this
new online world had any im-
pact on social attitudes, spe-
cifically on women’s rights.
“Of course there isn’t equali-
ty between men and women.
But in the big cities it is not
that much of a problem. It
is a bigger problem in rural
areas but of course Facebook
will not have much impact
there,” says one university
friend, it became a massive
talking point on Facebook.
Over the four months he
was on the run, young Turks
constantly shared articles
and notes about develop-
ments - forcing the media to
follow suit.
It also enables minor exam-
ples of activism. When Merve
found that fellow Turks were
posting homophobic messag-
differences. Several women
we spoke to said that the
medium encourages people
to be more “disprespectful”,
and post messages that end
up simple encouraging argu-
ments and throwing insults
at each other.
“There is no culture of con-
ciliation, says Hilal Temizoglu.
“It increases discrimination
in one sense because people
In
a country that hits international headlines mostly in
the context of honour killings or headscarf bans, the
popularity of Twitter users who talk openly openly
about their sex lives and who aren’t afraid of ridiculing the coun-
try’s establishment and the popularity of ‘sex bloggers’ might be
surprising to outsiders. But not here, in Turkey. It might be still
too early to say that the social media has lead to real change in
feminist activism. But it started to challenge the language that
is used for describing the gender roles. It started to challenge
the discourse that is used in the media, where specific roles
and appropriate ways of behaviour are attached to women.
Breaking the taboos
GEORGETA BOCŞE
EDUARDO DEL CAMPO
T
urkish – Armenian
reconciliation is pos-
sible in the near fu-
ture. According to others
it already happened, scep-
tics say it is impossible.
Istanbul, December 2010 -
Council of Europe is finish-
ing their two years “Speak
out against discrimination”
campaign with a European
media encounter. Journal-
ists from all over Europe are
writing these days about mul-
ticulturalism, minorities, ac-
ceptance an discrimination.
In this context two outsider
journalists try to make an
understanding of the Arme-
nian - Turkish dispute that
goes on for decades. First we
started reading news paper
articles on this matter. We
learned that Turkey and Ar-
menia have very limited dip-
lomatic relationships, since
there is no Turkish embassy
in Yerevan or any Armenian
diplomatic mission in Turkey.
The border between the two
countries is closed and mili-
tarised, luckily twice a week
there is a direct flight be-
tween Istanbul and Yerevan.
But let’s start from the very
beginning. Most of the prob-
lems started to appear to-
gether with the decline of
the Ottoman Empire at the
end of the 19th century and
it culminated in 1915 when a
lot of violence was reported
on both sides. Armenians say
their predecessors were vic-
tims of a genocide, Turks say
many Armenians died indeed,
but also many Turks were tor-
tured and killed by Armenians.
There is general agreement
that hundreds of thousands of
Armenians died when the Ot-
toman Turks deported them
from eastern Anatolia to the
Syrian desert and other places.
The total number of Armeni-
an dead is disputed. Armeni-
ans say 1.5 million died. The
Republic of Turkey estimates
the total to be 300,000.
According to the Interna-
tional Association of Geno-
cide Scholars, the death toll
was “more than a million”.
Researching this conflict took
us to the military museum
form Istanbul. It was us, two
foreign journalists, and at
least 5 classes preschool chil-
dren. After strolling through
the Kurds” he said. Some
years ago you weren’t even
allowed to mention this name
and now there are Kurdish
ethnics in the Parliament.
Pakrat Estukyan is very posi-
tive and optimistic regard-
ing to the Turkish Armenian
relationship, but still he and
his colleges at Agos receive
death threats in their news
room. This rude awakening
makes them divide time pe-
riods in Agos in before the
assassination of Hrant Dink
(founder of the magazine and
editor in chief who was as-
sassinated in 2007) and after.
One of the threats journal-
ists from Agos received was
written by Erdinç a 22 year
old young man, married, with
three children who was do-
ing his military service at the
Talking about the controversial issue of the Military museum in Istanbul.
He received a fine of 3000 TL.
Next in our quest is Kumkapi,
Armenian Genocide could send you to pris- a historic Armenian neigh-
bourhood residence of the
on only a decade ago in Turkey, but some Armenian orthodox Patriarch
as well as other Christian
scholars and activists both Armenian and churches and an Armenian
school. Nowadays Kumkapi is
Turkish have broken the taboo in the last home to many other nation-
alities. Armenians are still in
years and now the debate could lead in the big number in this area, but
immigrant from former soviet
near future to a normalization and an im- union countries, middle east
and Africa have found here a
partial approach to history as it happened. shelter. Children, fruit vendors
and old men playing backgam-
mon are colouring the shabby,
the rooms with swords and In the newsroom the most of 60.000 is mainly based ghetto - like neighbourhood.
very beautifully decorated common language is Turkish, on the information received At the Armenian school only
guns, we found what we are from the Armenian church- 150 children are studying. All
looking for. Turkish Armenian es across the city. There are the subjects, besides Turk-
relations. The room is filled also many Armenians, mainly ish history, geography and
with pictures, documents and women staying here illegally. naturally Turkish language
statements. There are old They usually work as house- are taught in Armenian.
papers that give information keepers or cleaning ladies. Armenian history cannot be
about the relocation of the Ar- Pakrat Estukyan says it is pos- thought to the pupils here
menians, but also of the atroc- sible for Armenians to get and the topic of the genocide
ities committed by Armenians legal jobs here in Turkey, but is off limits. Right in the main
against the Turks. Images of one has to be highly quali- entrance of the school there
soulless bodies one on top fied and specifically asked is a statue of Ataturk a Turkish
of each other, a whip and a for by a Turkish employer. He flag and the text “I am hap-
blood stained prisoner’s uni- thinks that many Armenians py to be a Turk” One of the
form are placed under a glass would want to come here, teachers at the school tells us
in the centre of the room. because it is their father- that the low number of stu-
Shaken up by the brutal im- land, but then most of then dent is because many Arme-
ages we continue our journey resist the temptation due to nian families moved away to
in understanding this whole the genocide accusations. better neighbourhoods from
situation to Agos magazine. On the other hand he says, Istanbul, but also compared
Agos is the only newspaper in Armenians who do not live in to some years ago young
Turkey published in Armenian Turkey, the Armenian diaspo- families have only one maxi-
and Turkish. Is first came out ra mainly, are much more in- mum two children and not
in 1996 and it’s purpose was, although most of the employ- tolerant and offensive toward five how it used to be com-
as it is today, to write about ees are of Armenian origin. the Turks, simply because mon back in the days. She
the Armenian community, Pakrat Estukyan, editor of the they didn’t live here Estuky- says there are no problems at
but not only for the Arme- Armenian language section an says. He explains that in the school, there have no inci-
nian community. The paper says there is no exact official the future a democratization dent been reported the more
has 24 pages of which only number of Armenians living of Turkey will surely happen. then 180 years old school.
4 are written in Armenian. in Istanbul. Their estimation “Look what happened with
Right across the street
though where the Patri-
arch’s residence there’s
always a police unit.
During the years the area
between Laleli and the last
street near the sea in Kum-
kapi has become a huge mar-
ket, white in daytime, black
as the night falls. People from
all over the world come here
for questionable quality and
origin textiles. Cheap hotels
are the main costumers of
shipping services. From DHL
to Russian air cargo. Appar-
ently they live in peace, no
one is complaining, no one
remembers an open ethnic
conflict. Cavit Beyzade man-
ager of Antik Ipek Hotel who
is of Iranian origin, but lives in
turkey for 15 years says that
Istanbul is the paradise of ref-
ugees. He says as long as you
mind your own business you
can live here happily for ever.
Two blocks away from his
hotel there is the Kumkapi
detention centre for immi-
grants. We try to talk to one
of the policemen guarding
the facility and in his effort
in explaining us what is the
role of the institution that
he is guarding he asks as: “
Where are you from? Do you
have a passport? No? He says
smiling ironically and then he
shows towards the building.
At the end of the day I was
left with some questions...at
what level are these conflicts
taking place? Where is the so-
lution hiding repeatedly failed
treaties and diplomatic nego-
tiations or in the optimism of
a newspaper editor. Maybe taboo of Armenian genocide. pened in 1915 hasn’t arrived
the Iranian hotel manager is Armenian Turkish author and yet to public Turkish schools,
the one who figured it all out? professor Gengis Aktar was not even to the Armenian
Is it helping in any way to in- one of the promoters of the one, but in some very ad-
oculate young students with first scholars’ meeting to dis- vanced private centres it’s
the image of tortured people, cuss this extraordinarily con- already a reality, as the Turk-
is internal affairs in any way troversial issue in Turkey, in ish student of Journalism Idil
the problem of the diaspora? 2005, despite the risk of be- Mese says. Four years ago,
I suppose time will give all the ing accused of ‘anti-Turkish- at the Koç high school, her
answers. In the mean time ness’ activities under article professor of history, a Turk-
ish woman, told the students
to research and write about
Kumkapi is a the place where you can immediately tell you the deportation and massa-
are in the are where many immigrants live. The first clue is cres and, although she didn’t
the density of international phone services and internet cafés. think that those events could
But apart from many other similar places people are be considered formally a gen-
friendly and warm, they immediately offer you a tea, ocide, she gave freedom to
and even if they don’t know two words in any oth- the young students to express
er language then Turkish they try to help you out. their own view and findings,
Idil recalls. Maybe one day in
the near future, all students
maybe listening to the oth- 301 of the Constitution. Now in Turkey (and Armenia) will
ers can be the starting point. this historians’ seminars take have the opportunity of stud-
Some things are changing place without much protests ying history with human im-
in fact in Turkey due to the against them from extremists. partiality, accepting not only
braveness of some people The debate or the balanced what ‘the others did to us’
ready to talk openly the old explanation about what hap- but what ‘we did to others’.
There is no honour in killing
L ast year, a baby who
was born out of wed-
lock was killed by his
own relatives. The same year,
a youngster was killed be-
cause she had a relationship
outside her family’s plan for
an arranged marriage. An-
other girl was stabbed by her
father, which suspected she
had a boyfriend. Early this
year, in a case that shocked
the international community,
a 16-year-old girl was buried
alive by relatives for befriend-
ing boys. Her corpse was only
found 40 days after she went
missing.
All these crimes happened
in Turkey or within Turkish
communities in Europe. And
these are only the ones that
reached international media
attention. Every month there
are more new cases not mak-
ing headlines.
The numbers are staggering:
this year alone - from January
to October only - almost 190
women were victims of hon-
our crimes, accordingly to the
opposition site Bianet.org.
July was the worst month:
35 killings. Furthermore, a
June 2008 report by the Turk-
ish prime ministry’s Human
Rights Directorate said that in
Istanbul alone there was one
honour killing every week,
having reported over a thou-
sand during the previous five
years. Advocate groups esti-
mate that three women are
murdered each day, in Turkey,
in gender related attacks.
During this cross-reports
workshop held in Istanbul by
the Council of Europe, our
work group conducted a sim-
ple vox pop in which we asked
16 random men if they would
beat their wife if she com-
mitted adultery and three of
them said ‘yes’. In the same
group of men, the majority
(10) told us they were against
homosexuality. This is obvi-
ously a non-representative
statistic, but it helps us under-
stand a country that seems to
be trapped between two real-
ities: in one hand there’s the
modern secular Turkey, where
some women are fully liberat-
ed and gay communities are
being accepted and, on the
other, there’s the more con-
servative Turkey, where a girl
can’t hold hands with a boy
without being threatened. Or
BÜRDE ÖZCAKIR, SERCIM AYYILDIZ AND SUSANA ALMEIDA RIBEIRO
tonomies within the hegem-
onic masculine order we all
live in”, notices Dr. Pervizat.
Our work group also talked to
Dr. Nilufer Timisi, a professor
at the Istambul University and
specialized on issues related
to the representativeness of
minorities in the media, who
confirmed that this is not a
rural phenomena nor exclu-
sive to the Anatolia region.
“This is also happening in big
cities”, she said.
When asked if this kind of be-
havior has a religious mind-
set, Timisi also told us that
this has nothing to do with
that: “This is not related to
religion. This is about feudal-
ism, the social norms and
a patriarchal society. Many
Turkey is, by far, the European country where honour kill- people use religion as an ex-
cuse, but that is really not the
ings are most prevalent. Women are being beaten and case here”.
killed because they have boyfriends or engage in an affair. Timisi also told our work group
that the honour crimes serve
And not just women. In 2008, Ahmet Yildiz, a young gay one purpose: the cleansing
man was killed in what is believed to have been the coun- of the honour of a husband
or a family. After that, it’s as
try’s first gay honour killing to surface publicly. In Istanbul if people become in peace
alone, a recent official report from the government said with themselves. Like remov-
ing a bad tooth from a clean
that there was one honour killing every week. The United mouth.
Nations Population Fund estimates that 5,000 honour kill- Sevdiye Ergürbüz is a young
Journalism student. She will
ings take place globally every year. In modern Turkey things graduate in June from the Is-
are improving, but in some cases that is still not enough. tanbul University and writes
for the online newspaper Ji-
yan.us (linked to a more so-
killed. And this happens eve- picture of dark side of human family is at stake (according cialist ideology), where she
rywhere in the country, even soul”. These are the words of to the family) and the woman writes about issues related to
in big cities. Dr. Leyla Pervizat, a Turkish suffers the consequences, it is minorities rights. When asked
The problem of violence academician at Halic Univer- proper to speak of a so-called if the honour crimes were
against women is not just a sity and a “radical feminist”, ‘honour crime’”. linked to religious matters,
Turkish problem. It happens as she described herself to Pervizat - a very powerful Sevdiye also responded that
all over Europe. Just this week, our work group to whom she voice within Turkey against this problem goes beyond re-
the European Women’s Lobby talked to in a phone interview. gender violence - prefers to ligion. “This issue is related to
(EWL) - based in Brussels - is- How can we define honour describe the practice as being a patriarchal system. Turkey
sued a statement saying that killings? Human Rights Watch “heartbreaking, distressing, belongs to Middle East re-
European Commission is “fail- defines “honour killings” as and cruel”. “We can only rise gion”, she answered, stress-
ing” to tackle “widespread “acts of violence, usually mur- above it with hope and cor- ing the importance of peo-
gender-based violence”. der, committed by male family rect actions”, wrote Pervizat ple’s civic education in these
According to the UN, approxi- members against female fam- at the conclusion of a paper matters.
mately 60% of women in the ily members, who are held to presented in May 2009 in a Also, honour killings don’t al-
world are victims of physical have brought dishonour upon United Nations expert group ways equals lower levels of
violence at least once in their the family”. meeting to address harmful education. A July 2008 study
lives. In Europe, an estimated The Council of Europe defines practices against women. from Dicle University (in Di-
one in five women falls victim the so called “honour crimes” The behaviours that trigger yarbakir, South East) on hon-
to domestic violence, costing as “any form of violence these sort of crimes can vary our killings - which focused
EU member-States as much against women and girls, in from wearing a tight dress or on the Southeastern Anatolia
as 16 billion euros every year, the name of traditional codes dedicating a song to some- Region, the predominantly
or one million euros every of honour”. “What distin- one on the radio to adultery Kurdish area of Turkey - has
half hour (ELW numbers). guishes this form of violence or escaping an arranged mar- shown that “there are also
“Dark side of human soul” from other forms of violence riage. Even though the notion perpetrators who are well-
In Turkey, specifically, many of against women therefore re- of honour varies in time and educated university gradu-
the cases of violence against sides in the fact that the vio- space, nonetheless, “what re- ates. Of all those surveyed, 60
woman take the form of these lence is exercised in the name mains constant is controlling percent are either high school
hatred “honour killings”. The of traditional codes of honour. and regulating women’s sexu- or university graduates or at
honour killings are “the very Where the ‘honour’ of the alities, lives, choices, and au- the very least, literate.”
More surprising: although
women are the vast major-
ity of the victims, there are
also cases of man being mur-
dered. In a 2008 interview
for the newspaper Today’s
Zaman, sociologist Mazhar
Bağli of Dicle University said
that he encountered, while
researching for this scientific
study about honour killings,
that two ladies killed their
husbands because they were
cheating on them. He also
came across nine women
who masterminded the mur-
ders of their own daughters.
“None of them feel regret.
They confused me a lot”, he
assumed, concluding that
“honor killings are a complex
problem that requires com-
plex solutions”.
With a little help from the re-
ligious leaders
Although a lot of these crimes
can be difficult to grasp within
a 21th century country which
aspires to belong to the Eu-
ropean Union, reports indi-
cate that things are changing.
Since the late nineties, Turkey
has been witnessing major
legal reforms, many of them
made possible by the strong
women’s movements and
women’s lobby in the country.
Since November 2001, with
the adoption of the country’s
new Civil Code, things have
improved a great deal. At
least in theory. This new le-
gal document established full
equality of men and women
in the family, equal rights over
property acquired during
marriage, necessity of full and
free consent of both men and
women when they decide to
get married (not allowed be-
fore 18), equal representative
powers and abolished the
concept of illegitimate chil-
dren. Also, in cases of forced
marriages, women can apply
to the Court of Law for annul-
ment of their marriage within
the first five years.
Furthermore, the criminals
now face life sentences if
found guilty.
These legal reforms brought
Turkey closer to the interna-
tional standards. Even femi-
nists agree with that. But
there is still a lot to be done.
Most of the feminist activists
keep reminding the authori-
ties of that, including Dr. Ley-
la Pervizat, that argues that
“these reforms are nowhere
near to the desired levels of
attainment”.
For instance, there is some-
thing controversial about
the way the honour crimes
are presented in the new
Penal Code. It does not ad-
dress crimes of honour ex-
plicitly. Article 82 just makes
reference to the “homicides
by motivation of custom”.
Acording to Leyla Pervizat,
by avoiding the explicit us-
age of term honour, gender
inequalities are strengthened
and reinforced. And, on the
other hand, by using the term
customs, it is explicitly stated
that these killings only hap-
pen in certain communities of
the country, namely the Kurd-
ish. According to this feminist,
“The first one disregard the
rights of women (has gender
based implications) and the
second one has racial based
implications. Needless to say,
both of these go against reali-
zations of human rights”.
In all this process of changing
the mentalities and, there-
fore, the behaviours, femi-
nists rely on the help of re-
ligious leaders. In a country
where 90% of the population
is Muslim, and the majority of
the male population goes to
mosques to receive religious
services, the religious leaders
have a strong influence over
the society.
“We have to get the religious
leaders involved in eradicat-
ing this practice and we have
been doing this for the past
five years. I’m a member of
Amnesty International and
we have a project in which
we are working with the re-
ligious leaders and with the
Presidency of the Religious
Affairs for the erradication of
violence against women and
actually it was considered as
an example of Best Practices
by the United Nations. All the
religious leaders - I don’t care
if they are priests or rabis or
imams - all of them have to
speak out against the viola-
tion of women’s rights. Tur-
key has a fairly good record
on doing this for the past
five/six years. Of course there
was a lot of criticism, but also
a lot of progress”, said Leyla
Pervizat. On the other hand,
the government is acting. The
Presidency of Religious Affairs
is committed to eradication
of gender discrimination and
gender based violence. In
2004 this presidency issued
a press release stating that
honour killings are against Ko-
ran and human dignity.
The sad case of
Ahmet Yildiz
Ahmet Yildiz was killed in 2008 in Istanbul. He was shot
leaving a cafe near the Bosphorus strait. “Independent”
newspaper published Yildiz’s story under the title “Was
Ahmet Yildiz the victim of Turkey’s first gay honor kill-
ing?”.
Yildiz was the only son of a deeply religious and wealthy
Kurdish family from Sanliurfa, in the predominantly
Kurdish southeast. A year before being murdered he ad-
mitted his gender choise to his family and that is why his
parents decided to reject him as their son.
When he was living in Üsküdar, Ahmet Yildiz told Turk-
ish prosecutors that he had received death threats from
members of his family. The prosecutor’s office declined
to pursue the case and now Ahmet’s friends claim his
family is responsible for his murder. Facing this lack of
action, he decided to write columns about the threats
made by his family to Beargi magazine.
According to his relatives, Ahmet Yildiz’s father wanted
him to return to their village and to see a doctor and
an imam in order to cure him of his homosexuality and
get married, but Ahmet refused. His cousin said: “Ahmet
loved his family more than anything else and he was tor-
tured about disappointing them. But in the end, he de-
cided to be who he was.”
He was murdered when he left his apartment to buy ice
cream. A witness said dozens of neighbours watched the
killing from their windows, but refused to come forward.
His body remained unclaimed by his family, a grievous
fate under Muslim custom.
It took one year to prepare indictment Ahmet Yildiz’s
father, Yahya Yildiz - whose trial in absentia began in
September - was accused of the killing of his own son
and disappeared. He is believed to be hiding in north-
ern Iraq. There have been many court sessions since the
murder, in 2008, but so far there is no veredict.
Still today may Turkish people think that homosexuality
is a disorder. Sevdiye Ergürbüz, an human rights activist,
recalls the case of chancellor Aliye Kavaf who is respon-
sible for women and family rights which said that homo-
sexuality is a disorder.
Ergürbüz added that even the media is contributing to
the misperception of the gay community: “Media tells
people that ‘They are different from us’. There is no
positive news about homosexuality but violence against
them. Media does not talk about
homosexuals enough. Media must
take responsibilities about this is-
sue”.
“In Turkey even women who have
undergraduate degrees face vio-
lence. Our society must be well-edu-
cated. Education is so important for
this issue”, argued Ergürbüz, which
added that Turkish government “is
not doing enough for this issue.
Music is the people
ADI HALFON
ERDINÇ UTKU
MARGARETA TOMO
VERONIQUE LEBLANC
The rhythm of
Istanbul is changing.
Music helps Roma
people to find their
place in the cultural
capital of Europe
2010. The Roma
bring extra color to
the artistic life of the
city. However, not
everything is
perfect: integration
and modernization
create new
problems.
sional for the army, he has a
high rank. Once they found
out he is a Roma his promo-
tion was denied and he was
dismissed”
There is something interest-
ing with the Roma people in
the tea house. They all eager
to speak, to make their com-
plaints heard. Nevertheless,
they do not trust the media.
Some of them didn’t agree to
tell their names, as if some-
thing could happen to them.
“Turkish journalists came to
this neighborhood and took
pictures, but nothing had
changed”, they say. At the
house of Kazim Turkmen, the
56 years old leader of one of
the Roma communities, simi-
lar things are said. “You come
here to ask us questions
about our life”, says Sengul
Turkmen, Kazim’s wife, “but any other Roma”, he says, stereotypes, and sometimes Tradition falling apart
than you will go and just “Because there is an high they even change their family
write how poor we are”. demand for music. Some of name to a Turkish one”, ad- Turkmen also feels the world
their traditional occupations, mits Akgul, “However, there is not what it used to be.

W
ednesday morn-
ing’s sun shines on
the old crowded
buildings of Bostan, a poor
neighborhood in the city of
Istanbul. Many Roma live
in the area. The tea house
“Nazlitas” is located in one
of the narrow streets. Inside
it there are about a dozen of
Roma people, sitting around
plain tables, playing back-
gammon, drinking tea and
watching television. The
atmosphere in the place is
very masculine, perhaps a
bit rough. They don’t have
normal jobs. Some of them
are unemployed, some sell
flowers or shine shoes for
living. Others are musicians.
That occupation, it appears,
is very popular among this
community.
Nobody knows exactly how
many Roma live in Istanbul.
Estimations go from 500,000
to 3 million. In any case, it
is not easy to be a Roma in
Istanbul. Not just that most
of them belong to the low
class of society, they also feel
discriminated. “Whenever
there is a burglary, people
immediately blame us”, says
one of the guys at the tea
house. “But yet”, he contin-
ues, “We feel loyal to Turkey.
We feel this is our land. Our
kids serve in the Turkish
army, we are Roma and Turk-
ish at the same time”. Orhan
Pinardag, another Roma at
the tea house intervenes:
“My uncle worked as profes-
The young generation
professionalized
At the tea house, one of
the older guys tells his life
story. He is 57 years old, and
started to play music when
he was thirteen. He is a son
of a musician, and now his
own son also follows his
way. “People here keep their
ancestors occupations”, says
one of them. “The knowl-
edge of how to make music
used to be passed from
father to son. Nowadays we
understand the importance
of education. My son, for
example, studies music in the
Mimar Sinan University”.
His saying seems to be true,
as except one person, all the
men in “Nazlitas” are rela-
tively old. Ozgur Akgul, a 32
years old Roma music expert,
agrees. “You can definitely
notice the young generation
of Roma musicians is becom-
ing more professional”.
Turkmen estimates around
75% of his community are
making music. “For most
of them”, he says, “Music
is not the only occupation,
since they don’t earn a lot
of money out of it. Even
so, playing music is a way
to make a living, and also
something people enjoy to
do”. Akgul gives another ex-
planation for those incredible
figures: “The Roma musicians
are integrating in the Turk-
ish society much better than
like making baskets, are not
relevant anymore. Music, on
the other hand, is something
people will always listen
to”. Akgul is making a docu-
mentary film about Roma
musicians, which will go on
screens next March. His M.A.
thesis was about Roma music
and identity.
Proud to be a Roma
“When music started to be
an industry, there was a
huge demand for new sing-
ers. Then the Turkish people
discovered the Roma sing-
ers”, he summarizes the
past fifty years. “Music helps
the Roma to change their
negative image. Once Roma
musicians become popular,
they are changing the stereo-
types people have on them”,
claims Akgul. He also gives an
example: “Some of the Roma
singers are not pointing out
their origin, because of those
is a very popular Roma singer
called Husnu Selendirici, who
kept his name and always put
emphasis on his background.
He helped a lot for changing
the image of the Roma”.
The Roma songs contain a lot
of satire and sarcasm, mostly
concerning issues of relation-
ships.
The Roma singers, it appears,
overtook the market. “The
nine eights rhythm, which is
a clear Roma style, became
extreme popular in Turkey”,
reveals Akgul. But not every-
thing turns out to be good.
In the process of integrating
in society, the community
tries to adapt to life style
changes.
“I was in Greece, and I
couldn’t communicate with
the local Roma, because I
don’t know the Roma lan-
guage”, complains one of
the people at the tea house,
“The Greek Roma told me I
am not a real Roma”.
“The role of a community
leader is a traditional one.
Our community still has one,
since my people respect me
for being active for the com-
munity”, he glorifies himself,
“In other communities there
are no longer leaders avail-
able. They are being replaced
by organizations which help
the people in their daily
needs”. And despite the in-
tegration process the Romas
may have, they remain a
minority with social needs.
“Even in Istanbul”, says Turk-
men, “Some are living in
tents at the outskirts of the
city”. Music leads to integra-
tion. And integration makes
some problems. But whether
those troubles can threaten
the Roma or not, nobody in
the in the community will
dare thinking of stop creat-
ing music. “I support the idea
of integrating through play-
ing music, it helps people to
communicate
Scarf ban still a
bottleneck for
career-aspirant
women in Turkey
BETÜL AKKAYA DEMIRBAŞ
BRUNO HORTA
In spite of recent attempts to get
rid of the controversial ban on
the use of the Muslim headscarf
-- which applies to certain public
buildings and military locations
in Turkey as well as some pri-
vate offices, many headscarved
women argue that there is wide-
spread
discrimination against them in
the business place.
The headscarf ban has remained
a hot topic for Turkey for over a
decade. However, there is still a
lack of political compromise to
lift the ban. Yet there is wide-
spread social conviction that the
headscarf issue is being used as
a political weapon, and the new
generation of educated women
is becoming more and more tol-
erant both toward one another
and about the question.
“In Turkey there are lots of jobs
for women who do not wear the
headscarf. But there so few for
the headscarved. The ban af-
fects our
psychology,” noted 23-year-old
Ayşenur Bozkurt, who said has
been wearing the headscarf for
nine years.
Bozkurt, a translator by profes-
sion and a graduate student,
said she had faced the bitter side
of the headscarf ban in the work
life when
she sent her curriculum vitae
-- that included a headscarved
photo of her -- last year to a
number of companies, all pri-
vate. She did not
try state offices because she al-
ready knew she had no chance
to work there with the head-
scarf.
“One day I received a job offer
from a university. They prob-
ably did not have any idea about
my headscarf. When I told them
about it on the phone, they
withdrew their offer, wished me
a good day and just hanged up.”
In Turkey, state offices do not
hire headscarf-wearing women.
These women are also denied
employment in most private
companies despite the lack of a
choices. between us. I’m against it, but I
But no sociological or statistical respect.”
research has been done so far “The problem is not the scarf
on the extent of the negative ef- but what you have inside your
fects of the ban on society. No head,” said the Turkish prime
full-fledged study has been con- minister to Euronews in early
ducted so far to reveal the dam- November. Mr. Recep Tayyip
age caused by the ban. Erdoğan, who heads a right-wing
government backed by Islamic
Not all women concerned about believers, is in favor of the free
scarf issue choice. The opposition is against
and accuses him of not respect-
Despite the fact that the ban is ing the secular identity of Turkey
a real problem for Turkish wom- and to make concessions to Is-
en, the presence or absence of lamic law.
the headscarf doesn’t feed the In recent weeks, the subject
great passions among university experienced a surprising devel-
students in İstanbul. The new opment: the Higher Education
female generation shows toler- Board ordered İstanbul Univer-
ance and also some indifference sity to stop expelling female
about the subject. students who entered the class-
Öztürk Ayşe, 20, a student of room with a handscarf on their
advertising at Bahçesehir Uni- head. Until now, teachers exer-
law that prohibits the use of the photo of her with a headscarf, versity, a private institution in cised that power in the light of
headscarf in private businesses. but none of them agreed to İstanbul, admits that the scarf a 2005 decision of the European
They are not elected to Parlia- meet her. “And I wanted to try digs a hole between her, that Court of Human Rights, which
ment, either. A scarf ban was im- my chance with a CV that did doesn’t use it, and the other states that Turkish state institu-
posed for long years on univer- not include a photo. Then I re- girls of the same age who follow tions must promote secularism.
sity campuses and it was lifted ceived offers from some com- the Quran and choose to cover (See Highlights part)
only recently. panies. When I went for Admittedly, the women
A recent research conducted by an appointment with one divide between those
the Turkish Economic and So- of the companies, they re- Another headscarved woman, who call themselves
cial Studies Foundation (TESEV) fused to talk to me. They who identified herself as Nadide, modern and western-
found that while up to 70 per- gave me a form to fill in ized and the ones that
cent of Turkey’s women wear and told that they would
complained that she was offered want to remain faithful
the headscarf only a small per- call me later. But they did a lower salary than her colleagues to tradition. But from a
theoretical point of view
centage of women in business not,” Sağdıç recalled. who do not wear the headscarf.
life are headscarved. In profes- Another headscarved this is more a discussion
sional life, headscarved women woman, who identified between parties than a
are usually expected to “make herself as Nadide, com- central issue in women’s
concessions” if they are to be plained that she was offered a their hair . She remarks: “Me daily life.
employed by companies, which lower salary than her colleagues and my family we are Muslims “At night in Taksim area, I see
is sometimes to agree to work who do not wear the headscarf. and have an open mind. Nobody many girls with scarf in bars and
for a low salary or at a lower po- “The employer believes that you in my family uses headscarf. It clubs to flirt with boys,” says
sition or to agree to take off the need him and the job. And he is a symbol of conservatism of Ayşe Öztürk. “I think it is a con-
headscarf if necessary. sees you as a source of ‘cheap some people.” tradiction with the values they
Nihal Sağdıç, a 23-year-old head- workload.’ I am not sure he Sevdiye Ergürbüz, 21, a student claim to defend, but the truth
scarved woman who agreed to would offer such a low salary to from the İstanbul University, is that I don’t care and nobody
talk using a false name, said she a woman who does not wear the one of the largest and most po- cares.” Sevdiye Ergürbüz does
worked for a private company headscarf or a man,” she stated. liticized in the country, explains the framework: “Women from
as an architect for one year but When the headscarf ban was im- that her family is Muslim but she the Asian area of İstanbul are
is unemployed at the moment. posed in universities for the first has no religion. She considers closer to Islamic traditions and
She wants to work for a munici- time in 1997, some headscarved herself a leftist activist and con- prefer to wear scarf. In the Euro-
pal office in İstanbul where the students refused to take off trary to what one would expect pean region, especially in big cit-
use of the headscarf is allowed. their headscarves and returned she doesn’t transform the head- ies, the more Westernized wom-
“This was not my dream when I home, some women took off scarf in a matter of life or death. en are less into headscarf”. “The
graduated from the university, their headscarves and continued “I don’t belong to any associa- body of each person belongs to
but I have to do it now,” she to attend school, while a small tion, think and act according to each person, so the decision on
noted. group of covered women went my conscience socialist,” she whether or not to use covered
She also added that she applied abroad to continue their stud- says. “I have some friends that hair it is an intimate question
to more than 15 private compa- ies. Every one of these women wear scarf but that was never and the State must respect it,”
nies with a CV that included a suffered in one way for their cause for heated discussions she concludes.
Highlights on scarf ban in Turkey
The notorious ban on the use of the Muslim ties in 1997 when military generals ousted sity administrations have been allowing
headscarf has been a matter of contention a coalition government being led by a con- hadscarved students inside their campuses
in Turkey. servative party. Thousands of students were since then.
The Republic of Turkey has traditionally not allowed into university campuses until a Yet a ban on the use of the Muslim head-
possessed a staunchly secular identity. The very recent past due to the ban. scarf remains in place in the work life, that
strong military has opposed to the idea of Politicians have since then failed to reach a is to say in all state offices and most private
the free use of the headscarf out of con- compromise to get rid of the headscarf ban. companies. In mid-August, the UN Conven-
cerns that the Muslim garment would erode The ruling Justice and Development Party tion on the Elimination of All Forms of Dis-
the country’s secular order. (AK Party) attempted to lift the ban in 2008, crimination against Women (CEDAW) asked
After the 1980 coup d’état, a regulation but failed due to strong opposition from Turkey to end its discrimination against
clearly defined the clothing and appear- other political parties. The party barely es- headscarf-wearing women, arguing that the
ances of staff working at state offices, saying caped closure due to its anti-ban attempt. ban on the use of the headscarf has negative
the hair of civil servants must be uncovered. In October of this year, the Higher Educa- impacts on women’s participation in such
Starting then, headscarved women were de- tion Board (YÖK) sent a circular to univer- fields as education, work, health and the po-
nied the right to be employed at state prem- sities across Turkey to ban the headscarf litical and public spheres. Turkey became a
ises. The ban extended its scope to universi- ban. Either willingly or unwillingly, univer- signatory to CEDAW in 1985.
Two worlds in one planet
NATHALIE CAPRIOLI
MINHAC CELIK

A t the end of Septem-

ber, a remarkable
part of Turkish me-
dia covered the same event
in Tophane. In this historical
part of Istanbul, rather popu-
lar, several dozen men with
sticks and pepper spray at-
tacked an art gallery during
the opening of an exhibition.
Who and why? For some it is
an outcome of clash between
conservatives and modernist
elites, namely between ‘Black
and White Turks’. However,
for others the reason is more
complicated; class struggle
and gentrification are more
helpful to explain the inci-
dent.
The process of gentrifica-
tion would make invisible
the poverty by changing the
morphology of socially fragile
areas. This is exactly what Is-
tanbul has experienced since
more than twenty years. The
provinces like Tophane but
also Cihangir, Kuzguncuk, Ar-
navutköy, Ortaköy or Fener
have witnessed a drastic two different worlds. The in Tophane and living there his home was 350 liras, but also joined them. Along with
change. Tuğrul Eryılmaz a main problem is we do not for all his life, he underlined now the same house is rented these businessmen, Okan
well known Turkish intellec- talk a common language.” he that opening of the art gal- for 1000 lira. Thus, he had to Bayülgen a Turkish TV star
tual describes this social phe- added. “Tophane is going to lery has changed the profile move another place.” stated moved to Doğan Apartment.
nomenon with his personal change and be like Cihangir of his consumers as well as the man, with a rasping voice, He is said to pay 8000 liras for
experience. He left Bebek and in the future. But the popu- the residents of the neighbor- who also rejected to give his rent. After that, Doğan Apart-
moved to Cihangir some 20 lation is not aware that is an hood. “I have three flats and name. ment has become a central
years ago for the high rents. effect of the capitalism. The they are currently rented by The owner of the restaurant point for popular people who
“It was a middle class very problem is that nobody is in- a Japanese man, a Mexican told he also increased the rushed to have a flat there.
modest area. At that time il- formed on what is going on musician and a Spanish street prices of the food sold in the Zeki, a 60 year old craftsman
legal people arrived to Cihan- in this area. So what they do dancer.” restaurant which has led the in Tophane, shared us his
gir and generally used it as is that they consider that the Especially after a tender was change of his consumer pro- repentance that he sold his
their headquarters. Now the galleries are their enemies hold for the Galataport pro- file. “Previously cab drivers apartment relatively cheaper
rent is very high and it is al- by definition. There is an op- ject, which would change the came here for lunch. But they price. “I bought it 90 000 liras
most impossible to buy a position not only between entire historic Galata prov- do not come here any more. and sold later for 140 000, but
house. Something happened. tradition and modernism, but ince, where Tophane is locat- Instead I have the foreign- today it costs 500 000 liras.”
What? ... New buildings, res- overall it is a classes struggle ed, and turn it into a center ers who rented house in our Drawing upon the attack tar-
torations, big hotels, drinking in fact. The conservative be- for shopping and entertain- neighborhood.” said he while geted to the art gallery, he
places, art galleries replaced lieve that the intellectuals are ment; the interest of foreign- explaining the consequences finds right to beat them argu-
traditional living places. And trying to civilize this area.” ers starts to mount rapidly to of price change applied his ing “They (the visitors) should
of course new people arrived Tophane. It is obvious that modest restaurant. have respected us because
at the same time. It is very Not always victim increasing attention to the The fancy buildings of first we warned them to go in-
visible and rather fast. I pay apartments and buildings is Tophane who lost their old side to drink alcohol.” (picture
now 1 200 liras (600 Euros); if In contrast to Eryılmaz, people the major factor driving the residents are now snapped by 4) He also stated that it is not
I move out my owner would residing in Tophane for gen- prices up. many popular artists, intellec- very hard to mobilize people
rent the house 1800 or 2000 erations seemingly are very However, not everyone is as tuals and businessmen. After in for a cause, because most
liras (1000 Euros).” So you can aware of the change. Moreo- lucky as the young business- spending enormous money of the residents are relatives
make a lot of money! ver, some of them started to man. There are also victims. A for renovations of historical to each other.
Eryılmaz argued that poor bear the fruits of this urban former resident of Tophane, buildings, Tophane has gained Kurdish folk music rose from
people hold the rich elites transformation. working as a transporter, had reputation for Turkish famous the street while the owner
responsible for losing their The owner of a modest res- to leave there due to the as- figures. Galata and Tophane of the restaurant told us his
home due to increased prices taurant, who spoke on the tronomic prices for renting… has recently seen a number renovation plans to attract
for houses. The veteran jour- condition of anonymity, de- always the same story. The of well-known figures like famous people to his res-
nalist maintained that this scribed the change in Tophane 48- year- old man drew at- Faruk Eczacıbasi, one of the taurant. He put a smile on
social and demographical neighborhood as a positive tention how it became hard leaders of Turkey’s pharma- his face probably pleased to
change caused two isolated development (pictures 1 & to live Tophane (picture 3). “I ceutical sector, Ferit Şahenk, imagine well known people
communities or enclaves liv- 2). Having understandably a had a neighbor who managed the chairman of Doğuş Hold- eating in his restaurant. How-
ing in juxtaposition but no pragmatic point of view as a his life by selling eggs on the ing, followed him and Kerim ever, when asked the relation
in cohabitation. “It is almost businessman, who was born street. Previously, the rent for Kamhi of Profilo Holding with the new-comers and the
local people the transporter,
who is originally an Arab,
seems to be exasperated
against the elites in the art
gallery. As an example of
lack of communication, he
has never thought to go into
galleries explaining: “If I go
there, I know they consider
me as a person who does not
deserve to speak with them-
selves. They are very snub!”
About the attack, the restau-
rant manager tied it with the
tendency of local people to
solve their conflicts without
any external intervention. “20
years ago even the police of-
ficers could not step into this
neighborhood” interrupted
the transporter, telling that
after demonstrations in Tak-
sim, a square where usually
become a gathering place for
protestors, the Tophane resi-
dent beat them off seeing no
need to wait for police.
The restaurant owner goes
on complaining the attitude
of media to relate the vio-
lence in September with the
religious Tophane residents.
“Most of the people here are
pious Muslims. Almost all of
the women including my rela-
tives wear headscarf. I drink
alcohol with my friends but
inside my home. The people
are against the drinking alco-
hol outside. We have no dif-
ference. Some people drink,
some other does not. But the
media reflected the incident
as a matter of religion; howev-
er it is tradition of this neigh-
borhood. They exaggerated.”
added he. Unlike the trans-
porter, the restaurant man-
ager who is much younger
stated that he visited a exhibi-
tion in the gallery, and he did
not feel that he was discrimi-
nated. On the other hand,
the transporter repeated that
he is not of the idea that he
would be accepted to the gal-
lery due to his old clothes,
concluding: “Their way is very
different than ours.” Appar-
ently the young ambitious
businessman seems to reject
this divisive attitude: “There
are good guys among them,
they give presents to children
here.”
When you have a walk
throughout Tophane streets,
it is impossible not to no-
tice the existence of two
worlds in one planet. The lit-
tle shop where you can find
the cheapest products and
even buy only one cigarette is
squeezed by another art gal-
lery and a jewelry designer’s
shop where a pair of pyjamas
(Oups! Sorry it was a ‘specially
designed hand-made blouse’)
costs 120 liras (60 Euros)
(picture 5). A young sales-
woman working in this shop
confirmed that the inhabit-
ants who have already lived
there before the urban trans-
formation are not among her
clients. Accepting that there
is a clash between the local
people and the newly coming
elites, she added that ‘there is
a special group of consumers
coming here to buy our prod-
ucts.” She did not denied the
tension between the group as
she defined them conserva-
tives versus modernists, but
expressed hope for the future
“They (local people) are slow-
ly getting accustomed to us.”
More than an art gallery...
The art gallery everybody
speaks about is rather a cul-
tural centre. Its name: DEPO
(picture 6). The center does
not host only exhibitions
but also political and social
events related, for instance,
to urban transformation: a
big exhibition was part of
the Rotterdam Architecture
biennale with the subject of
the segregated cities, includ-
ed Istanbul. The founder of
DEPO, Osman Kavala told us
the building belonged to his
grandfather who came from
Kavala (in Greece) to Istanbul
during the exchange of popu-
lation in 1924.
Two years ago, Kavala with
his collaborators started to
operate this place as cultural
centre. Just like the designer
shop with its pyjamas, DEPO
looks like an UFO in the neigh-
borhood.
“We are aware of the contrast
between our activites and the
social level in Tophane. We
realize that the local people
may not be very enthusiastic
to visit the exhibitions.”
Bearing in mind that the gap
between the people and
elites who has been trying to
modernize country for dec-
ades, has caused some politi-
cal tensions in today’s Turkey,
Kaval noted that it is not a bad
idea for the visitors to explore
this neighborhood at the
same time. As many people
reflect me including artists,
they would like to spend time
in this social environment, in
contrast to their more ‘hy-
gienic’ areas. Many of our art-
ists explore problems of the
market economy, social prob-
lem, thus Tophane is not an
alien environment to them.
Does it mean that these art-
ists have really contacts with
locals? According to Kavala,
“answer is not much... or no,
let’s says! When we organized
the programs related to the
urban transformations, we
had people coming from the
street.
The founder also mentioned
briefly the history of social
change in Tophane. “Before
the gentrification, which has
occurred in the last couple
of years, there has been an-
other gentrification in the
sense that a lower-middle
class community started to
live here. Some of them came
from eastern Anatolia. But
they were not the poorest of
the society; they were quite
entrepreneurial. Besides they
were against use of alcohol
and liberal style of life. Galler-
ies have become the symbols
of such a ‘new life’.” The as-
sumption of the local people
that galleries are the symbols
of what they resist consti-
tutes one of the causes of the
attack.
Speaking about the attack’s
reasons, Kavala confessed
that they were aware of the
lack of communication with
the local people, and to over-
come this they are planning
to create specific project for
young people. “As DEPO we
plan to train them to be pho-
tographers. Then we can have
a video training. It will be a
training of expression. They
dont have much channels of
expression and this project
can be useful and attractive
for them.” The red bussiness-
man, as he was called in the
past because of his leftist
stance as a bussiness actor,
attached great importance
that the project would help
the young people to improve
their self confidence.
All the roads lead to Istanbul
Migration from Balkans to Istanbul, and Balkan identity in a cosmopolitan city.
By Miroslav Todorovic and
Cemil Guler
S ince the 19th century,
large number of people
migrated from Balkans
to Turkey. Most find their
place in Istanbul since it was
DİLEK DERVİŞOĞLU
“Side of my father preferred to stay there,
cause they could not imagine they can buy
home here and survive here. But, side of my
mother decided to be with the Turkish, to
practice Islam freely. So we came here. I was
motivated all of my life to come to Turkey”.
Les couleurs de l’arc-en-ciel
Ousmane Ndiaye
Vincenzo Sassu
Catherine Vuylsteke
I
stanbul. Place Taksim.
Le coeur de la ville.
Comerces, boutiques
chics, vendeurs châtaignes.
Une marée humaine défile
sans cesse. On court, dic-
sute, rit...A deux pas d’ici
la rue Zambak sokak, dans
le quartier de Beyglu. Un
drapeau avec les couleurs de
l’arc-en-ciel flotte au numéro
10. Nous sommes devant le
“Istanbul Frappe”. Le pro-
priétaire définit fièrement,
ce bar-restaurant, comme
le premier ouvertement gay
à Istanbul. «Il y a beaucoup
de clubs gays et restaurants
ici, mais3 personne n’avait
le courage de le dire ou-
vertment. La communauté
homosexuelle turque gère
et possède de nombreux
locaux gays et vit une «vie
a big and a multicultural city.
They belonged to different
ethnic groups, however one
thing common was among
them was that they were
considered as Muslims and
they all had the desire to be
a part of the new Turkish
society. According to Focus
Migration, a Germany based
institute, from in 1923 until
1997, more than 1.6 mil-
lion immigrants arrived and
settled in Turkey. The biggest
immigration wave happened
during 1989 when 320,000
Bulgarian Turks escaped a
campaign of forced assimi-
lation. Aynur Hasaltun and
Dilek Dervisoglu, who are
Bulgarian Turks and their
families were of those people
that had changed their ad-
gaie», mais sans ostenta-
tion. Il n’affiche pas en public
leur orientation sexuelle »,
explique Anil Tas 33 ans.
Il nous accueille gentiment
mais avec une poignée de
questions: comment avez-
vous découvert? D’où venez
vous?
Enthousiaste, Anil nous an-
nonce qu’il va ouvrir le pre-
mier hôtel gay de la capitale
dans quelques mois. «Nous
voulons un endroit normal
où chacun peut séjourner
librement. Nous voulons plus
être dans les endroits cachés,
bizarres ou sombres car nous
sommes des personnes nor-
males comme les autres.”
Bienvenue en Turquie! Un
pays partagé. Etat musul-
man mais pas arabe, culture
orientale mais aussi occiden-
tale. Pays fondateur du Con-
seil de l’Europe, pas membre
de l’Union européenne.
dress and life. Right now they
both works as choreogra-
phers and they have adopted
way of life in Istanbul. Aynur
has no memory of her past,
and approaches to this topic
reluctantly, “I am not sure if I
am the right person that you
should talk to”. On the other
hand Dilek has still carries
her Bulgarian identity, “Side
of my father preferred to stay
there, cause they could not
imagine they can buy home
Alors que la plupart des pays
musulmans pénalise les mi-
norités sexuelles, la Turquie,
99% musulman, tolère. En
1988, le code civil est même
amendé pour permettre aux
transgenres de
changer de sexe, sous au-
torisation médicale. Selon le
sociologue français, Philippe
Blacher Schmerka, auteur
d’une étude sur la question
: «les homosexuels sont
un groupe de pression réel
d’aujourd’hui. Une com-
munauté organisée. Elle est
reconnue d’une minorité
réelle, comme une minorité
religieuse ou ethnique, avec
ses variantes: travestis, trans-
sexuels et des lesbiennes.”
Ce mouvement est né dans
les années 80. Il s’est répan-
du lentement dans le pays
grâce à «Lambda Istanbul»,
l’organisation pionnière.
«Nous visons à créer un
AYNUR HASALTUN has no memory of her
past, and approaches to this topic reluc-
tantly, “I am not sure if I am the right per-
son that you should talk to”.
here and survive here. But,
side of my mother decided to
be with the Turkish, to prac-
tice Islam freely. So we came
monde dans lequel tout le
monde aimerait vivre. Notre
organisation veut démontrer
que notre l’homosexualité
n’est pas seulement an acte
sexuel mais un mode de vie.
Notre groupe est basé sur
l’idée que la libération des
homosexuels serait une libé-
ration pour les hétérosexuels
aussi» proclame le manifeste
l’association.
Un combat difficile. En
mai 2008, un tribunal lo-
cal ordonne la fermeture
de Lambda Istanbul, accusé
d’activités contre les valeurs
morales. Cette comdamna-
tion arrive après l’entrée en
vigueur en 2005 d’une loi sur
la ‘’moralité publique’’, une
defınıtıon très vague et laiss-
er à la discrétion de la police.
Mais l’association introduit
un recours auprès de la Cour
suprême. Elle gagne. Mais les
gays, lesbiennes, transsexuels
here. I was motivated all of
my life to come to Turkey”.
This is their and Istanbul’s
story.
et travestis sont soumis à de
fortes pressions sociales et
victimes de nombreux actes
homophobes. Le service mili-
taire obligatoire s’applique
à tous les citoyens de sexe
masculin entre 18 et 41 ans.
Cependant, l’armée turque
discrimine ouvertement les
homosexuels et les bisexuels
en leur interdisant de servir
dans ses rangs. “Dans notre
Constitution sont interdites
toutes les formes de discrimi-
nation, mais la société turque
n’est pas prêt à accepter sa
diversité, explique Sevval
Kilig, activiste transsexuel.
Nous devons éduquer les
les minorités sexuelles à
s’impliquer activement”.
Elle a fondé en 1996
l’organisation Woman’s door
et developpe un programme
d’éducation sexuelle en col-
laboration avec le Ministère
de la Santé.