Erdogan's Grand Construction Projects Are Tearing Istanbul Apart
By Alexander Christie-Miller / July 31, 2014 10:28 AM EDT
Late one night in the maze of wooden houses beneath Istanbul’s ancient city walls, an old man rose from his bed, scrawled a suicide note, and gulped down a bottle of pesticide. For months Ismet Hezer had watched his neighbours in the close-knit neighbourhood of Tokludede crumble under intense pressure to sell their homes, which were earmarked to be demolished as part of an ‘urban renewal’ scheme. Residents had been kicked out, and others had sold up at knockdown prices to government-linked developers who told them they would otherwise be nationalised.
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