Tarlabaşı Community Center. Istanbul, Turkey

Education has been a problematic issue in Turkey for many years because of economic and spatial inequalities and because of age, religion, language, race, and gender inequalities. In the education system, where all kinds of people are homogenized and standardized, finding a place for the difference or adapting it in case of finding might cause a problem. Many children with different characters, backgrounds, or cultures may have to study at the same level together in the same place. However, even this equal right to education depends on families having a certain level of economic income. Some children may still have difficulties accessing this right even if they are in the center of Istanbul, which is considered a megacity.

Tarlabaşı is the most overthrown, changed, and “suffered” place in Beyoğlu, one of the most popular districts of Istanbul of all time. With the construction of Tarlabaşı Boulevard in the 1980s, the region was cut off from Beyoğlu and left idle. This region has changed hands the most after the attacks on non-Muslims in 1955 and is, therefore, the first place of choice for low-income immigrants. Over the years, this social change caused the region to become neglected as it hosted low-income segments, separated from its main center with Tarlabaşı Boulevard, and became one of the most disadvantaged areas of Istanbul, as it became a complete ruin with urban transformation.

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