Sultanbeyli

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Sultanbeyli is a grey windswept working class suburb of Istanbul, Turkey on the Asian side, far from the city, inland from Kartal and Pendik. It has a population of 175,700 (2000 census), more than double the 1990 figure of 82,298.

[edit] History

Far outside the city, Sultanbeyli was farmland until very recently. In the 1940's and 1950's large properties from the Ottoman period were taken over and broken up into small plots for the settlement of Turks migrating in from Bulgaria. A village was built in the 50s and one of the roads from Ankara passed through.

[edit] Sultanbeyli today

The population of Sultanbeyli exploded when the TEM motorway was put through in the 80s. Now the area is totally covered with concrete blocks of flats and workshops. Much of this building is of very poor quality, most of the blocks have too many floors for the foundations and pillars to safely support thus creating genuine concern due to Istanbul's being in an earthquake zone. Buildings in this area are particularly vulnerble as almost every building in Sultanbeyli was constructed illegally, without permission or regulation. This now means that improvements are hard to put in place. Where do you find land to build the schools, hopsitals and fire stations that this community needs?

Many of the residents of Sultanbeyli are working class people who have recently migrated to Istanbul from Anatolia. Most are forced by circumstances to work very hard for little money in the factories and small businesses in the area. They can just about survive on what they earn and are conservative in dress, politics and religion. Most women wear headscarfs and/or are shut in the house all day. The council is controlled by the Islamic leaning AKP and even the symbol of the municipality is in Arabic style lettering.

There is little in the way of infrastructure, except mosques. Even the electricity for many buildings is illegally tapped off the national grid. The roads are full of holes, transport is by an irregular bus service or poorly regulated semi-legal taxis.

The children are not properly schooled, most not even completing primary school successfully before they are sent out to work or kept at home at least not spending any money. They have little to entertain themselves, little chance of going to high school and little hope for their future, unless they have very determined and resourceful parents who are able and prepared to make sacrifices to get their children extra help to pass high-school entrance exams. This is true of the whole of Turkey but the poverty of Sultanbeyli makes high school very hard to achieve. And the young families in the area have many, many children.

[edit] see also

[| the local municipality website]

	Districts of Istanbul
Adalar | Avcılar | Bağcılar | Bahçelievler | Bakırköy | Bayrampaşa | Beşiktaş | Beykoz | Beyoğlu | Büyükçekmece | Çatalca | Eminönü | Esenler | Eyüp | Fatih | Gaziosmanpaşa | Güngören | Kadıköy | Kağıthane | Kartal | Küçükçekmece | Maltepe | Pendik | Sarıyer | Silivri | Sultanbeyli | Şile | Şişli | Tuzla | Ümraniye | Üsküdar | Zeytinburnu