At the corner of Gaziler Caddesi,
\nthe kebab seller Emre is listing how to ask for a bottle of water in Turkish,
\nArabic and Kurdish. Minimal knowledge of these three languages is a sort of
\npassport to enter Basmane, a neighbourhood in Izmir. Away from the large modern avenues of Alsancak, showcase of the secular
\nand republican city that for years gave a majority vote to the CHP \u2013\u00a0 the centre-left party founded by Ataturk \u2013
\nand from Kemeralti, the ancient bazaar with its colours and scented spices,
\nBasmane sustains the original multicultural soul of Izmir, the city where
\nGreeks, Armenians, Europeans and Turks lived in harmony before a catastrophic
\nfire in 1922.<\/i><\/p>\n
After the immigration agreement
\nbetween the European Union and Turkey, over 300,000 migrants of Kurdish and
\nArab Syrian origin fleeing from the recent conflicts have sought refuge in Izmir, joining the Kurds from
\nsouthern Turkey and the Roma already resident here since the days of the
\nOttoman Empire. Basmane presents itself as a tangle of steep streets climbing
\nup the hill where the old houses are painted and some are in ruins, collapsed
\ninto smelly landfills. The
\nupper part of Basmane, at the foot of Alexander the Great\u2019s castle, is called
\nKadifekale. Its illegally constructed houses \u2013\u00a0
\ncalled in Turkish\u00a0
\n"gecekondu" 'overnight cutlery' \u2013\u00a0 are
\ninhabited mainly by Kurds from the Mardin area now involved in the war between
\nthe state and the PKK. So it is not rare to see wall graffiti praising \u00d6calan or YPG. The area above the castle has
\nrecently been destroyed by the many projects of "urbanization" and
\n"gentrification" that the Turkish government has been gradually implementing
\nacross the country.<\/i><\/p>\n
The beating heart of Basmane is Kap\u0131lar,
\na social space that for about a year has offered workshops for children every
\nweek, Turkish and English language courses, cultural events alongside dinners
\nin the Open Kitchen, and thanks to volunteers, legal or language assistance.
\nThe centre is also made available to the many associations that help refugees
\nin Izmir. The aim is to overcome isolation and foster inclusion within the
\nethnic groups not only of the Kurds and Arabs who live in the neighbourhood,
\nbut also to facilitate encounters with the Turks themselves. "The important
\nthing is to enter into relations of trust with the neighbourhood and the city,
\nand it takes a long time for this to happen," explains a local woman who
\nworks at Kap\u0131lar.<\/i><\/p>\n
The Kap\u0131lar Collective which works within
\nthe centre, but is also independent from it, seeks to encourage debate on
\nissues that in Turkey sound almost heretical, such as feminism, ecology and the
\nrights of minorities. On the upper floor of the centre Yalcin, a textile worker
\nof afroturk origin, handles the collection and distribution of food and
\nclothing for the most deprived people of the neighbourhood. When we meet him he
\nshows us a list of supplies required by state
\nschools, branded products that many families cannot afford. "In the district where child labour prevails, refugees
\nare convenient to many because they are paid half the salary of a
\nTurkish worker, so it is important to encourage these families to send their
\nchildren to school," says Yalcin. Many Turks, "not exempt from the
\nracism that often erupts in violence, believe that the state aids refugees more
\nthan the natives."<\/i><\/p>\n
After the agreement with the
\nEuropean Union and the closure of borders, a large proportion of refugees is
\nnow inclined to remain in Turkey with the hope one day of obtaining
\ncitizenship, but as Selin, a volunteer, points out, the problems are legion, from
\nthe economic to entering the education system or the lack of documents. A major
\nobstacle is language, "for the Syrians there are special schools, but they
\nare totally lacking for the Kurds." As a result, pro-Government NGOs try
\nto stir up conflicts between the two groups.<\/i><\/p>\n
Many non-profit associations
\ncontinue to operate in the district. Praxis is a collective of musicians who go
\naround Basmane teaching music especially to women and children, often with recovered instruments donated by citizens.
\nWaha seeks to offer medical and psychological counselling for women in
\nparticular, besides taking care of the distribution of medicines, tissues and shampoo both in the
\nneighbourhood and in informal camps like the one
\nin Torbali. Julie, a Dutch girl who decided to stay in Turkey to work
\nwith humanitarian organizations after her Erasmus program was over, says that
\ninformal camps still exist but are often moved from one place to another in
\norder to divert journalists' attention. Sometimes landowners then pay the
\npolice to ensure that certain fields are chosen instead of others, to
\nfacilitate the employment of migrants as laborers in the vegetable fields
\nlittered across the country.<\/i><\/p>\n
It is not easy to make contact with
\nfamilies that live in Basmane. After the coup of July 15 in Izmir, which was
\nmainly seen here on television, many are afraid to talk to journalists and
\nphotographers. Some assistance centres for refugees were forced to close on the
\ngrounds of having links with the coup leaders, prompting a general tendency on
\nthe part of refugees to demonstrate their allegiance to the Government by
\nparticipating in public events. <\/p>\n
Nour, a 27 year old Syrian woman of
\nPalestinian origin, has no fear however and invites us into her blue coloured
\nhouse. She lost the use of her legs due to an infection, but managed to escape
\nfrom Damascus with her mother and brother. Her
\ndream is to get to Germany where maybe she can have an operation on her
\nbackbone, and continue her criminal law studies one day. Nour is very
\ndetermined: "One day I shall visit the Vatican, I love churches, in
\nLebanon I studied three years in a Christian institution". While she
\ntalks, television news show the recapture of Aleppo by Assad's forces, one
\nhears gunshots and bombings. Nour stops talking with her usual enthusiasm and
\nasks her mother to kindly change the channel.
\nFrom another side of the small room comes a Skype call, which her brother picks
\nup, sitting on the couch for hours: it is Nour's father who is still in
\nDamascus. Few words, many smiles and so many expectations.<\/p>\n
Naser is a 50 year old former Iraqi
\nsoldier who arrived in 2014. Two of his six children suffer from immunodeficiency
\nand one from a cancer probably caused by the chemical weapons used by Daesh. He
\nlives in precarious conditions in Buca, another suburb of the city. "I
\ncould not stay in Basmane," he says, "the children needed more light
\nand the air was unhealthy. Here rents are higher, 500 pounds a month, and I
\nhave to pay for electricity and gas. Fortunately the neighborhood helps us with
\nfood." One of the children has been in bed for
\nmonths, his body rejects any kind of medication and local doctors hold
\nout little hope, "He might have a chance if I could go to Holland, there I
\nhave a brother with Dutch nationality, but the Turkish government will not let
\nus move because we made the request as refugees here. I have tried for months
\nto contact the UN offices without getting any answer."<\/i><\/p>\n
According to the laws in force in
\nthe country, before the asylum application of each is examined, refugees must be
\ntemporarily placed in one of the twenty official refugee camps or one of
\ntwenty-eight "satellite cities" \u2013 including Izmir \u2013 where the long wait
\nto be resettled in a third country commences. Under no circumstances may asylum
\nseekers leave their assigned city, while the request to leave the country is
\nalmost never accepted because many of them are registered as refugees in Turkey
\nprior to the agreement. Meanwhile, the Turkish government do not guarantee any
\nassistance.<\/i><\/p>\n
In Izmir there are refugees who
\nadapt quickly, like Aisha, a 21-year old Syrian
\ngirl who having perfectly mastered Turkish is at the complete disposal
\nof her compatriots to help them in their many \u00a0bureaucratic applications; or like Youssef, a
\n24-year old Kurd from Qamishlo, who after spending two months in Assad\u2019s
\nprisons, has finally managed to continue his medical studies in the town
\nuniversity.<\/i><\/p>\n
The streets surrounding the Basmane
\ntrain station are a real Bazaar, with restaurants, stalls and activities
\nmanaged by Syrians. The prices are lower than elsewhere, and perhaps those who
\nfeel nostalgia for the Damascus and Aleppo destroyed during the civil war can
\nfind some solace in these streets.\u00a0 Life jackets for people aiming to travel over the
\nAegean Sea and beyond, commonly referred to by refugees as the "Dead
\nSea", have now almost disappeared from the shop windows. But whereas
\nfor Youssef or Aisha, Izmir has come to represent an opportunity to rebuild
\ntheir future, for many others, Europe and its dream of freedom is even more
\ndistant.<\/i><\/p>\n
<\/i><\/p>\n
All photos by Giacomo Sini. All rights reserved.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" At the corner of Gaziler Caddesi, the kebab seller Emre is listing how to ask for a bottle of water in Turkish, Arabic and Kurdish. Minimal knowledge of these three languages is a sort of passport to enter Basmane, a neighbourhood in Izmir. Away from the large modern avenues of Alsancak, showcase of the secular…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1193","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1193","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1193"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1193\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1193"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1193"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1193"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}