With fotos of: Jivan Güner, Meltem Ulusoy, Sedef Özge

Istanbul is going through a huge urban transformation process. Neighborhoods located in the historical peninsula and touristic districts were one by one torn down to give way to luxury residential buildings and shopping centers
under the »gentrification« process. Tarlabaşı, located in the heart of Beyoğlu, Istanbul, was chosen to become the »Champs-Elysees of Istanbul« in 2007. Formerly a residential area for the Greek and Armenian populations
and later for the Romany people and Kurds fl eeing the burnt villages in Eastern Anatolia, Tarlabaşı is a lively neighborhood incorporating various cultures and life styles. As the historical buildings in the area were not allowed for
renovation, the eighborhood became a center of attraction for the underrepresented populations like the unemployed, sex workers, transvestites, recyclers, illegal migrants, etc. with its low rents. The Tarlabaşı urban transformation project was promoted as a way of »sterilizing« Beyoğlu, removing »drug dealers, thieves, transvestites, homeless people« and integrating the area »back« into Beyoğlu as a touristic center. The project included luxury residential buildings, hotels, and multi-storey car parks to be built in an area incorporating 278 buildings. All the families living and working in these buildings were forced to move to the outskirts of the city or return to their villages. Th e whole area was covered with aluminum walls and the buildings were then torn down.

Jivan Güner, Meltem Ulusoy and Sedef Özge photographed the area after the urban transformation project was initiated, and just before the buildings were completely torn down behind huge aluminum walls. Th ey spent months in the neighborhood, relating with the locals, capturing the lively streets outside borders of the urban transformation area, and the melancholy of the evacuated buildings. Many people have lost their homes and work, and been forced to live under harsher conditions in the evacuation process. Once the project is completed and »gentrification« penetrates into Tarlabaşı, the rest of the neighborhood will also go under a radical change. One of the last instances of
the neighborhood culture in Istanbul will become history.