Tweet
Today's Zaman, Turkey
March 21 2015
Destruction and restoration coincide in İstanbul's Kumkapı
The Kumkapı Fish Market was demolished earlier this month to clear
ground for Ä°stanbul's Eurasia Tunnel Project.(Photo: Sunday's Zaman)
March 21, 2015, Saturday/ 17:00:00/ PAUL BENJAMIN OSTERLUND / ISTANBUL
A lone palm tree hulks over the demolished remains of the Kumkapı Fish
Market on a crisp, sunny March afternoon. No one is in sight except
for a scrap metal collector surveying the wreckage with his wooden
cart.
Built in 1988, the fish market was torn down earlier this month to
make way for the Eurasia Tunnel Project, an underwater highway linking
the European and Asian sides of Istanbul. The seaside Kumkapı quarter
has a history as a fisherman's port, most beautifully captured in
photographer Ara Güler's book that showcases Armenian fishermen who
worked there in the 1950s.
But the Marmara Sea has been wracked by overfishing in recent years,
and the iconic fish sandwiches served on the Eminönü and Karaköy sides
of the Golden Horn are made with imported Nordic mackerel. Although
demolitions of buildings in Ä°stanbul are often controversial and
contested, resulting in disenchantment and displacement, this didn't
seem to be the case with the Kumkapı Fish Market.
`We are in favor of this, because due to Ä°stanbul traffic it's been
difficult here for quite some time,' Market association head Harun
Yıldız told the DoÄ?an news agency, giving the market's demolition and
the tunnel project his blessing. The fish sellers have temporarily
relocated to nearby Samatya, and Kumkapı fisherman supply retailers
who spoke to Sunday's Zaman said they won't be affected, as most of
the fish sold in the market wasn't directly caught from its adjacent
waters.
The demolition of the market does act as a reminder of the breakneck
pace at which Ä°stanbul is changing. What was there one day is gone the
next, sometimes swept away so fast and with such resolve that one soon
forgets it was ever there.
Across the seaside Kennedy Street and via an underpass is the heart of
the Kumkapı neighborhood, best known for its main square that is
packed with fish restaurants and meyhanes. However, the patrons of
these establishments are not neighborhood dwellers but tourists and
well-off Ä°stanbullites who reside elsewhere in the city.
Kumkapı, where an estimated 70-80 percent of the population consists
of foreign nationals, is a fascinating convergence of culture,
language and cuisine. Ethiopians, Somalians, Russians and Afghans make
up only a few of the numerous nationalities that occupy a visible
presence. `This place is like the United Nations!' exclaimed one
rental agent with a smile, chatting with Sunday's Zaman over tea in
his office. He asks if there is any place in the US quite like
Kumkapı. There isn't.
Two elementary-school-age girls drop by to say hi and leave with
cookies in hand. They are the children of immigrants from Armenia,
another significant group in the neighborhood. Kumkapı was once a
hotbed of Ä°stanbul Armenians and Greeks, and is the site of the
Armenian Orthodox Patriarchate and several churches. As Ä°stanbul's
historic Armenian community has receded, Armenians from Armenia have
settled in the area, finding work that is nonexistent back home.
Kumkapı is also an architectural patchwork, with gorgeous 100-year old
marvels mixed within a newer housing stock of buildings built 30-40
years ago. Many of these newer ones aren't in the best shape and have
been earmarked for demolition, while a variety of historic buildings
are undergoing renovation, including one entire block full of bay
window-lined charmers.
Neatly sandwiched between the Marmara coast and the touristic
Sultanahmet district, Kumkapı rests on coveted land. Walking away from
the neighborhood, wooden Ottoman-era buildings blend into boutique
B&Bs such as the Turquoise Hotel, which has a sky-blue hue that belies
its moniker. Kumkapı's shabby infrastructure has kept rent low while
rumors of drug dealing combined with heavy doses of xenophobia has
made the area a no-go for locals, but that could change once a
developer casts his glance in its direction.
Like the Ä°stanbul neighborhoods of Balat and TarlabaÅ?ı, Kumkapı was
once occupied by mostly non-Muslim communities that were
systematically forced out of the country. Their buildings crumbled and
became occupied by those who couldn't afford to live anywhere else.
While renewed interest combined with numerous renovations threatens to
push property values beyond the threshold of Balat's working-class
Kurdish inhabitants, a whole swath of TarlabaÅ?ı was demolished to pave
the way for a luxury residential complex in what has been a traumatic
process for the neighborhood.
While the bulldozing of a dilapidated fish market was met with a
relatively warm response, an upcoming wave of demolitions and
renovations across the street could swiftly alter the fabric of
Ä°stanbul's most diverse neighborhood as fast as walls come down.
Authorities and opportunistic developers may find it appealing to
`clean up' the area, flipping it over to a wave of wealthy homebuyers.
But as Ä°stanbul has seen so many times in recent years , the city and
its people, those who come from near and far, have much to lose from
the process.
http://www.todayszaman.com/business_destruction-and-restoration-coincide-in-istanbuls-kumkapi_375896.html
From: Baghdasarian
March 21 2015
Destruction and restoration coincide in İstanbul's Kumkapı
The Kumkapı Fish Market was demolished earlier this month to clear
ground for Ä°stanbul's Eurasia Tunnel Project.(Photo: Sunday's Zaman)
March 21, 2015, Saturday/ 17:00:00/ PAUL BENJAMIN OSTERLUND / ISTANBUL
A lone palm tree hulks over the demolished remains of the Kumkapı Fish
Market on a crisp, sunny March afternoon. No one is in sight except
for a scrap metal collector surveying the wreckage with his wooden
cart.
Built in 1988, the fish market was torn down earlier this month to
make way for the Eurasia Tunnel Project, an underwater highway linking
the European and Asian sides of Istanbul. The seaside Kumkapı quarter
has a history as a fisherman's port, most beautifully captured in
photographer Ara Güler's book that showcases Armenian fishermen who
worked there in the 1950s.
But the Marmara Sea has been wracked by overfishing in recent years,
and the iconic fish sandwiches served on the Eminönü and Karaköy sides
of the Golden Horn are made with imported Nordic mackerel. Although
demolitions of buildings in Ä°stanbul are often controversial and
contested, resulting in disenchantment and displacement, this didn't
seem to be the case with the Kumkapı Fish Market.
`We are in favor of this, because due to Ä°stanbul traffic it's been
difficult here for quite some time,' Market association head Harun
Yıldız told the DoÄ?an news agency, giving the market's demolition and
the tunnel project his blessing. The fish sellers have temporarily
relocated to nearby Samatya, and Kumkapı fisherman supply retailers
who spoke to Sunday's Zaman said they won't be affected, as most of
the fish sold in the market wasn't directly caught from its adjacent
waters.
The demolition of the market does act as a reminder of the breakneck
pace at which Ä°stanbul is changing. What was there one day is gone the
next, sometimes swept away so fast and with such resolve that one soon
forgets it was ever there.
Across the seaside Kennedy Street and via an underpass is the heart of
the Kumkapı neighborhood, best known for its main square that is
packed with fish restaurants and meyhanes. However, the patrons of
these establishments are not neighborhood dwellers but tourists and
well-off Ä°stanbullites who reside elsewhere in the city.
Kumkapı, where an estimated 70-80 percent of the population consists
of foreign nationals, is a fascinating convergence of culture,
language and cuisine. Ethiopians, Somalians, Russians and Afghans make
up only a few of the numerous nationalities that occupy a visible
presence. `This place is like the United Nations!' exclaimed one
rental agent with a smile, chatting with Sunday's Zaman over tea in
his office. He asks if there is any place in the US quite like
Kumkapı. There isn't.
Two elementary-school-age girls drop by to say hi and leave with
cookies in hand. They are the children of immigrants from Armenia,
another significant group in the neighborhood. Kumkapı was once a
hotbed of Ä°stanbul Armenians and Greeks, and is the site of the
Armenian Orthodox Patriarchate and several churches. As Ä°stanbul's
historic Armenian community has receded, Armenians from Armenia have
settled in the area, finding work that is nonexistent back home.
Kumkapı is also an architectural patchwork, with gorgeous 100-year old
marvels mixed within a newer housing stock of buildings built 30-40
years ago. Many of these newer ones aren't in the best shape and have
been earmarked for demolition, while a variety of historic buildings
are undergoing renovation, including one entire block full of bay
window-lined charmers.
Neatly sandwiched between the Marmara coast and the touristic
Sultanahmet district, Kumkapı rests on coveted land. Walking away from
the neighborhood, wooden Ottoman-era buildings blend into boutique
B&Bs such as the Turquoise Hotel, which has a sky-blue hue that belies
its moniker. Kumkapı's shabby infrastructure has kept rent low while
rumors of drug dealing combined with heavy doses of xenophobia has
made the area a no-go for locals, but that could change once a
developer casts his glance in its direction.
Like the Ä°stanbul neighborhoods of Balat and TarlabaÅ?ı, Kumkapı was
once occupied by mostly non-Muslim communities that were
systematically forced out of the country. Their buildings crumbled and
became occupied by those who couldn't afford to live anywhere else.
While renewed interest combined with numerous renovations threatens to
push property values beyond the threshold of Balat's working-class
Kurdish inhabitants, a whole swath of TarlabaÅ?ı was demolished to pave
the way for a luxury residential complex in what has been a traumatic
process for the neighborhood.
While the bulldozing of a dilapidated fish market was met with a
relatively warm response, an upcoming wave of demolitions and
renovations across the street could swiftly alter the fabric of
Ä°stanbul's most diverse neighborhood as fast as walls come down.
Authorities and opportunistic developers may find it appealing to
`clean up' the area, flipping it over to a wave of wealthy homebuyers.
But as Ä°stanbul has seen so many times in recent years , the city and
its people, those who come from near and far, have much to lose from
the process.
http://www.todayszaman.com/business_destruction-and-restoration-coincide-in-istanbuls-kumkapi_375896.html
From: Baghdasarian