Kurtuluş
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- This article is on the neighborhood of İstanbul. For the Turkish freighter ship of the same name, that sank in 1942 while transporting food aid to the port of Piraeus, see Kurtuluş (steamer)
Kurtuluş, formerly known as Tatavla (Greek: Ταταύλα, meaning "horse stable"), is a cosmopolitan neighbourhood of Şişli whose population consists of Turks, Albanians, Armenians, Greeks, Assyrians, Kurds and Jews.
The quarter was originally built, in the 16th century, as a residential area for Chian Greeks, settled here for the work in the principal dockyards of the Ottoman Empire which was situated in the neighboring Kasımpaşa quarter, also where the Turkish dockers resided. "Tatavla" retained its practically exclusively Greek population and atmosphere well beyond the Ottoman Empire, almost till the fifties, although its name was changed to Kurtuluş after Young Turks took power. It was typically the residential area for Greeks of more modest income, as opposed to, for example, Tarabya on the Bosphorus, where richer Greeks lived. But a number of beautiful houses sprang up as of the late-19th century, many still standing today, although in need of constant care.
The actual Turkish name means, "independence" or "deliverance" but can also signify, idiomatically, "good riddance".
The following song, bilingual in Greek and Turkish and still very popular in Turkey, carries the former name to our day.
Karoçeri Trava, na pame sta Tatavla
Posa Talira yirevis, ya na pas ke na mas feris!
Çek arabacı Tatavla'ya gidelim
Bizi oraya götürmek için kaç beşlik istersin
Büyükdere ke Therapia; Tatavla ke Nihori
Afta ta tessara horia, pu stolizune tin poli
Büyükdere ve Tarabya; Tatavla ve Yeniköy
İstanbul'u güzelleştiren işte bu dört köy.
(Summary translation: Coachman! Take us to Tatavla! How many dimes do you want for the ride and the return? Büyükdere and Tarabya; Tatavla and Yeniköy ("Nihori" in Greek); these are the four villages that render İstanbul beautiful.)
