DİYARBAKIR - The residents of the Fiskaya Neighborhood of Sur district, which was faced with urban transformation, reacted to the desire to demolish their houses and stated that due to the Hevsel Garden neighborhood would be demolished and luxury buildings would be built. The residents of the neighborhood do not have the power to buy those houses.

 

Fiskaya Neighborhood, which has been planned for years in the Sur district of Diyarbakır, has been included in the scope of transformation again. Citizens living in the neighborhood built on the edge of Hevsel Garden have been living a common life together for years. Women living in Fiskaya, who say that they do not want to give up the life they have built together, are against the demolition of their houses.

 

‘They want to turn it into a tourism field’

 

Saying that they did not want their house to be demolished, that they had lived in Fiskaya for years and that everyone knew each other, resident Ayşen Malçok expressed her reaction to the demolition with these words: ‘’Everyone unites when there is a funeral or a wedding here. We don't want them to demolish our house. Since there is Hevsel Garden here, they want to demolish it and use it for tourism. If they destroy this place, the people of this place will be disgraced. The value of my shop and my house here is the same, but the money they give to my shop is 140,000 liras, and the money they give to my house is 270,000 liras. How can I buy a workplace with this money?”

Another neighborhood resident, Hüsniye Malçok, who stated that the amount given for their houses was far below the value, emphasized that they love their neighborhood.

 

‘No one can demolish here forcibly’

 

Stating that they have been living in Fiskaya for 27 years, that they do not want to leave their neighborhood, and that these rumors have been going on for years, Mayise Atlı said: ‘’People go and ask for the price of their house, but we did not ask, some like the price, some do not. Most people say they won't get out of here. There is no place to go, inside the city is not nice. We have a tandoori, we make paste in our garden. If you do not have money elsewhere, you will starve, and you cannot even buy a bread. They have been saying that this place will be demolished since the day I arrived, but this time they put up signboards everywhere, I suppose that they will demolish. But no one can demolish here forcibly.’’

 

‘They want to destroy for their own benefit’

 

Stating that they did not know where they would go when this place was demolished, the houses to be built here would be sold at high prices and the people did not have the income to buy these houses, Zübeyde Tamir said: ‘’They give me 300,000 liras for my three-floor house. We do not accept this. There is a barn under my house, they do not even take it into account. They rate one house for two houses. I have been here for 40 years and I have been living in this house for 20 years, where should I go? I do not have money to pay for bread every day, I make my own bread here. We bring fuel to ourselves from the garden, we do not have money to pay for natural gas in the city. My salary is already 2000 lira, our population is large and it is barely enough. No job, everyone stays at home. They want to destroy this place for their own benefit. They want to build apartments. They are not doing anything for our benefit.’’