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According to the Turkish Statistical Institute as of 2009,
every year there are about 2.250.000 people
change locations for one reason or other.
It is quite obvious that İstanbul is probably the city most affected by this change.
İstanbul holds a quarter of Turkey's population
and as each day passes more and more people move to the city.
According to statistics, every year approximately 400.000 people
move to İstanbul in pursuit of their dreams.
Children are the ones most affected by this migration.
For some children it is very difficult to leave behind classmates,
neighborhood friends, toys and their surroundings.
Before they even get a chance to understand the reason for the move,
they find themselves lost amidst the large city crowds.
Şahhanım Kanat is a housewife and a mother.
In 1994, when her daughter was killed in a terrorist attack,
she found a purpose to keep her will to live.
Her first target was to help children who moved to large cities.
She aimed to guide them towards the right path, make them feel secure
and get them to be hopeful about life and their future.
So, in memory of her daughter Başak Helin,
she founded the Başak Culture and Art Foundation.
- We lost Helin Başak when a group of terrorists attacked a bus.
She was an artist and a lover of the art.
I came together with my friends
to find a way to bring Helin's dreams to life
and also overcome the pain of losing her.
We saw young children and teenagers on the street
trying to cope with life.
We saw the conditions of the children were working on the streets. Even though we lost Helin,
we were searching for what could be done for these children
and "children and youth are our future" stood out as our most compelling purpose.
We wanted to be able to lend a hand for them to have a better future.
When we set out to do this, it was not enough just to want to do it.
We contacted many professionals and academics for their advice.
We spoke to 185 kids and 85 families who lived in
disadvantaged neighborhoods on the Asian side of İstanbul.
We realized then that by establishing the Başak Culture and Art Foundation,
we could bring Helin Başak's dream to reality via these children.
It's been 7 years since the Başak Culture and Art Foundation has been established.
One of the first objectives of the foundation was to provide
art education to the children of families who had migrated to İstanbul.
Today, they offer many different courses here at the foundation.
From art classes to drama to musical training.
They help these children learn about the arts as well as how to live a better life.
Above all, this helps ease the pain of my loss.
This foundation was born out of pain.
One seed fell to the ground but many flowers bloomed from it.
We are happy to see the change we have made.
We say that children are our future.
Şahhanım Kanat
established the Başak Culture and Art Foundation
in the memory of her daughter.
She believed the purity of children's souls.
She made a huge difference in the lives
of those who migrated to İstanbul.