US slams eviction of old Roma settlement

Earlier this week, bulldozers destroyed the few dozen homes that were left in Sulukule despite protests by the area’s remaining residents, a move that the American officials said erased part of Istanbul’s history and disrespected the Roma people. Sulukule is an ancient settlement within the Fatih Municipality, whose mayor, a member of the ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP, ordered the controversial demolition as part of an "urban redevelopment" program.

"The bulldozing of Sulukule this week by the Turkish government shows a lack of regard for the Romani people," Sen. Ben Cardin of Maryland said.

The Democratic senator from Maryland, the cochairman of the U.S. Congress’ Helsinki Commission added," this sadly erases a centuries-old fixture of Istanbul’s history," in a written statement issued Wednesday. "The Turkish government should adequately compensate the Romani families and provide alternative housing to keep the community united now that their historic neighborhood is gone."

The U.S. Helsinki Commission is an independent government agency created by Congress in 1976 to monitor and encourage compliance with commitments on human rights, democracy and the rule of law.The commission consists of nine members of the U.S. Senate, nine from the House of Representatives and one member each from the departments of state, defense and commerce.

"When Roma are removed from their homes, often with no adequate alternatives, they are disconnected from schools, health care and a host of other public services, and get sucked even deeper into a vortex of poverty, with predictable and disastrous consequences for families," Democratic Rep. Alcee Hastings of Florida, the commission’s other cochairman, said in the same statement. Sulukule had been famous for its entertainment houses, where Roma artists performed.