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İstiklal Avenue is not only significant for İstanbul,
but actually for the entire country.
Workers march in İstiklal Avenue.
It's also where new years celebrations take place.
İstiklal Avenue is the heart of Turkey's social and cultural life.
While İstiklal is at the centre of everything,
Tarlabaşı district, which is within walking distance to İstiklal,
is at the periphery.
Tarlabaşı is at the centre of the city, but far away from city life.
Contrarily to İstiklal Avenue's lively nightlife,
Tarlabaşı is better known for its sad silence.
While İstiklal is loud and proud, Tarlabaşı is always silent in the background.
You are visible in İstiklal,
but you become neglected and invisible in Tarlabaşı.
İstiklal is "hip and happening", a sign of your existence.
Tarlabaşı, on the other hand, is the proof of your absence.
İstiklal Avenue is the media;
it is fifteen minutes of fame brought to you by a street interview.
Tarlabaşı, simply, is a life-long loneliness.
Time flows in İstiklal Avenue, along with people and life.
While in Tarlabaşı, time is stagnant with deprivation,
sorrow and helplessness.
Though far away from eyes in the heart of the city, Tarlabaşı is actually a home,
a shelter for numerous migrants from all across Turkey and even Africa,
coming to İstanbul with hopes of building new lives.
Despite all the social exclusion that they suffer,
there are some organizations that work with Tarlabaşı community
Among these organizations, perhaps the most active one is
the Tarlabaşı Community Centre, which was established in 2007.
Founded by İstanbul Bilgi University,
the Tarlabaşı Community Centre empowers children through music
and art, in order to provide them with the opportunity to discover their own talents.
Furthermore, the centre offers literacy courses to local women.
Tarlabaşı Community Centre also provides assistance
to international migrants in the neighbourhood,
along with weekly 2-hour legal assistance sessions in family,
criminal and inheritance law.
- We absolutely do not make donations, or offer financial assistance to any family.
We offer workshops to children and women, which we consider as highrisk groups.
We provide them with psychological assistance and consult them in health issues.
People who confront difficulties in government organizations,
in hospitals and at the municipality come to our centre,
where we provide them with the necessary assistance.
There are many illiterate adults in the neighborhood.
Their common ground is the culture they share;
a culture of deprivation and poverty, under which they all live.
We wanted this shared culture to bind them together and
build relationships of solidarity.
We never wanted to do something for them, but only with them.
Suzan Oktan, comes to your centre
with her children and learns how to read and write.
We asked her about the centre and how it has been helpful to them.
Let's see what she said:
- My children have been coming to the
Tarlabasi Community Centre for the last 2 years.
They come to the centre in mornings and then head to the school.
They informed about the literacy courses through my children.
After I learned about the courses I have started to come here to with my children,
I came here because I did not know how to read and write. And I am very glad.
They teach me all the letters, in a very nice and patient way.
We are very glad to be here, very happy with our teachers.
I came to the centre because I did not know how to read and write.
I've been to the hospital once. As I couldn't read the door numbers
I just could not find where I was supposed to go.
That's why I decided to come here. Now I am getting better
in mathematics and improving my reading and writing skills.
I could not write my full name before, but now I can...
- In its first days, they were raising awareness
about the community centre in our neighborhood.
That's how I heard about it and
started coming to the arts and drama workshops.
Then I heard about the guitar course and applied to join.
I always wanted to play guitar,
so I did not want to miss the opportunity.
My mum was playing in a music band when she was younger,
so my family has an interest in music.
I never want to quit playing;
I either want to be a guitarist or a director when I grow up.
As of today,
Tarlabasi Community Centre touched upon the lives of 700 children.
Volunteers taught how to read and write to hundreds of local women,
and aimed to help children to aspire
for a brighter future ahead of them.
Tarlabasi Community Centre made
a significant difference in the lives and
futures of hundreds of families and thousands of children.