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Hurriyet Daily News, Turkey
April 24 2014
Resistance to urban renewal in historic Black Sea town
Zeynep BÄ°LGEHANHÃ`RRÄ°YET / HEMÅ?Ä°N
The HemÅ?in people, or HemÅ?inites, were originally Armenians who fled
to the Pontus region along the eastern Black Sea as Arab troops
occupied their homeland in 790. Levent KULU
Although Turkey's Council of State granted a stay of execution on a
controversial urban renewal project, the Prime Ministry's Housing
Development Administration (TOKÄ°) has geared up to partly demolish a
sleepy Black Sea town which was home to Armenians in the past,
triggering local resistance.
HemÅ?in lies next to its touristic neighbor ÇamlıhemÅ?in in the eastern
Black Sea province of Rize. Tea growing is the primary source of
income for the 2,300 people living in the town.
Former mayor BaÅ?ar Cumbur was the first official to come up with the
urban renewal idea in the area in 2006. `Our goal was to protect the
historical structures, while renovating the bad ones. We wanted to
create a HemÅ?in town where people could stay permanently,' Cumbur
said.
He therefore signed a protocol with TOKÄ° in 2008, but locals opposed
the municipality's initial plans. As a result, the mayor changed and
so did the plans. Now, TOKÄ° plans to turn HemÅ?in into a touristic town
with 157 residences and 29 shops. Each apartment will cost
approximately 150,000 Turkish Liras (50,780 euros).
Three citizens sued TOKÄ° and the HemÅ?in Municipality at the Rize
Regional Administrative Court in 2010, claiming that their rights were
violated. The court then ordered a stay of execution and canceled the
project. However, the Council of Ministers upped the ante in 2011 by
permitting all HemÅ?in to be declared as an urban renewal area, where
every building within 7 hectares would be demolished.
Locals sued the project at the Council of State this time, referring
to the earlier ruling of the regional court. While the Council of
State ordered its experts to prepare a report on the project, the
government made another preemptive move and declared an `urgent
expropriation' of the project area in HemÅ?in, using a law that lets
the state expropriate private property in times of war.
Ali Bayraktar, a shop owner in HemÅ?in who is closely following the
court cases about the town, argues that it is illegal for the
government to use a law about national defense for urban renewals. The
Council of State issued another stay of execution when locals
challenged the government again.
Rejecting the objections of the Prime Ministry, the Interior Ministry
and the HemÅ?in Municipality, the Council of State also sent three
professors to the town from Dokuz Eylül University in 2013. Their
60-page report ruled that HemÅ?in was not suitable for urban renewal
due to its historical and geographical structure.
Although the high court has yet to issue a final verdict, TOKÄ°
scheduled a tender on HemÅ?in Urban Renewal Project for May 20,
ignoring the earlier rulings and local resistance.
Nobody knows what will happen next, as only two schools, a forestry
office, the provincial governor's office and municipality housings
have been demolished for now. The construction of a public park is
ongoing, but locals ridicule it, too, stressing the town already lies
in a naturally beautiful, historically rich area near the Black Sea.
The HemÅ?in people, or HemÅ?inites, were originally Armenians who fled
to the Pontus region along the eastern Black Sea as Arab troops
occupied their homeland in 790. In 1480 the Ottomans conquered the
area and in 1600 instituted the `devÅ?irme' system, in which suitable
young boys were taken from Christian families to be educated and often
converted to Islam to get rid of special taxes that were applied to
them. Some of the HemÅ?in now live in Armenia, where they have settled
and have even opened a newspaper called HemÅ?in Hay (HemÅ?in Armenians).
Ä°smet Å?ahin, a politician who is a prominent member of the HemÅ?in
community, told the Hürriyet Daily News in 2011 that modern day HemÅ?in
identify themselves neither as Armenians nor Turks.
`In recent years, more and more people have begun claiming they are
discovering their Armenian identity, and I do not find this sincere.
HemÅ?inites have always identified themselves as HemÅ?inites. If you ask
whether they are Turks, you would elicit a negative response. If you
ask whether they are Armenians, again you would elicit a negative
response. They would only tell you they are HemÅ?inites,' said Å?ahin.
Today, locals are not dead set against urban renewal, but they claim
their rights and want their cultural assets be preserved.
Zekeriya Birlik, the baker of the town, opposed the demolition of his
shop built in 1928. `We could restore the buildings. Do they really
have to demolish them?' he asked.
Emine Kobal, 70, said she has been living in HemÅ?in since she was
born. She has the means to sell her land and buy a new apartment that
the government intends to build here, but she resists.
`I have lived here for 32 years with my husband. Now I live with his
memory. They told me to sell my land and go away. My heart is here,
I'm happy here and I need to see my garden and eat from its crops,'
Kobal says.
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/resistance-to-urban-renewal-in-historic-black-sea-town.aspx?pageID=238&nID=65537&NewsCatID=340
From: A. Papazian
April 24 2014
Resistance to urban renewal in historic Black Sea town
Zeynep BÄ°LGEHANHÃ`RRÄ°YET / HEMÅ?Ä°N
The HemÅ?in people, or HemÅ?inites, were originally Armenians who fled
to the Pontus region along the eastern Black Sea as Arab troops
occupied their homeland in 790. Levent KULU
Although Turkey's Council of State granted a stay of execution on a
controversial urban renewal project, the Prime Ministry's Housing
Development Administration (TOKÄ°) has geared up to partly demolish a
sleepy Black Sea town which was home to Armenians in the past,
triggering local resistance.
HemÅ?in lies next to its touristic neighbor ÇamlıhemÅ?in in the eastern
Black Sea province of Rize. Tea growing is the primary source of
income for the 2,300 people living in the town.
Former mayor BaÅ?ar Cumbur was the first official to come up with the
urban renewal idea in the area in 2006. `Our goal was to protect the
historical structures, while renovating the bad ones. We wanted to
create a HemÅ?in town where people could stay permanently,' Cumbur
said.
He therefore signed a protocol with TOKÄ° in 2008, but locals opposed
the municipality's initial plans. As a result, the mayor changed and
so did the plans. Now, TOKÄ° plans to turn HemÅ?in into a touristic town
with 157 residences and 29 shops. Each apartment will cost
approximately 150,000 Turkish Liras (50,780 euros).
Three citizens sued TOKÄ° and the HemÅ?in Municipality at the Rize
Regional Administrative Court in 2010, claiming that their rights were
violated. The court then ordered a stay of execution and canceled the
project. However, the Council of Ministers upped the ante in 2011 by
permitting all HemÅ?in to be declared as an urban renewal area, where
every building within 7 hectares would be demolished.
Locals sued the project at the Council of State this time, referring
to the earlier ruling of the regional court. While the Council of
State ordered its experts to prepare a report on the project, the
government made another preemptive move and declared an `urgent
expropriation' of the project area in HemÅ?in, using a law that lets
the state expropriate private property in times of war.
Ali Bayraktar, a shop owner in HemÅ?in who is closely following the
court cases about the town, argues that it is illegal for the
government to use a law about national defense for urban renewals. The
Council of State issued another stay of execution when locals
challenged the government again.
Rejecting the objections of the Prime Ministry, the Interior Ministry
and the HemÅ?in Municipality, the Council of State also sent three
professors to the town from Dokuz Eylül University in 2013. Their
60-page report ruled that HemÅ?in was not suitable for urban renewal
due to its historical and geographical structure.
Although the high court has yet to issue a final verdict, TOKÄ°
scheduled a tender on HemÅ?in Urban Renewal Project for May 20,
ignoring the earlier rulings and local resistance.
Nobody knows what will happen next, as only two schools, a forestry
office, the provincial governor's office and municipality housings
have been demolished for now. The construction of a public park is
ongoing, but locals ridicule it, too, stressing the town already lies
in a naturally beautiful, historically rich area near the Black Sea.
The HemÅ?in people, or HemÅ?inites, were originally Armenians who fled
to the Pontus region along the eastern Black Sea as Arab troops
occupied their homeland in 790. In 1480 the Ottomans conquered the
area and in 1600 instituted the `devÅ?irme' system, in which suitable
young boys were taken from Christian families to be educated and often
converted to Islam to get rid of special taxes that were applied to
them. Some of the HemÅ?in now live in Armenia, where they have settled
and have even opened a newspaper called HemÅ?in Hay (HemÅ?in Armenians).
Ä°smet Å?ahin, a politician who is a prominent member of the HemÅ?in
community, told the Hürriyet Daily News in 2011 that modern day HemÅ?in
identify themselves neither as Armenians nor Turks.
`In recent years, more and more people have begun claiming they are
discovering their Armenian identity, and I do not find this sincere.
HemÅ?inites have always identified themselves as HemÅ?inites. If you ask
whether they are Turks, you would elicit a negative response. If you
ask whether they are Armenians, again you would elicit a negative
response. They would only tell you they are HemÅ?inites,' said Å?ahin.
Today, locals are not dead set against urban renewal, but they claim
their rights and want their cultural assets be preserved.
Zekeriya Birlik, the baker of the town, opposed the demolition of his
shop built in 1928. `We could restore the buildings. Do they really
have to demolish them?' he asked.
Emine Kobal, 70, said she has been living in HemÅ?in since she was
born. She has the means to sell her land and buy a new apartment that
the government intends to build here, but she resists.
`I have lived here for 32 years with my husband. Now I live with his
memory. They told me to sell my land and go away. My heart is here,
I'm happy here and I need to see my garden and eat from its crops,'
Kobal says.
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/resistance-to-urban-renewal-in-historic-black-sea-town.aspx?pageID=238&nID=65537&NewsCatID=340
From: A. Papazian