At the corner of Gaziler Caddesi, the kebab seller Emre is listing how to ask for a bottle of water in Turkish, Arabic and Kurdish. Minimal knowledge of these three languages is a sort of passport to enter Basmane, a neighbourhood in Izmir. Away from the large modern avenues of Alsancak, showcase of the secular and republican city that for years gave a majority vote to the CHP – the centre-left party founded by Ataturk – and from Kemeralti, the ancient bazaar with its colours and scented spices, Basmane sustains the original multicultural soul of Izmir, the city where Greeks, Armenians, Europeans and Turks lived in harmony before a catastrophic fire in 1922.
After the immigration agreement between the European Union and Turkey, over 300,000 migrants of Kurdish and Arab Syrian origin fleeing from the recent conflicts have sought refuge in Izmir, joining the Kurds from southern Turkey and the Roma already resident here since the days of the Ottoman Empire. Basmane presents itself as a tangle of steep streets climbing up the hill where the old houses are painted and some are in ruins, collapsed into smelly landfills. The upper part of Basmane, at the foot of Alexander the Great’s castle, is called Kadifekale. Its illegally constructed houses – called in Turkish "gecekondu" 'overnight cutlery' – are inhabited mainly by Kurds from the Mardin area now involved in the war between the state and the PKK. So it is not rare to see wall graffiti praising Öcalan or YPG. The area above the castle has recently been destroyed by the many projects of "urbanization" and "gentrification" that the Turkish government has been gradually implementing across the country.
The beating heart of Basmane is Kapılar, a social space that for about a year has offered workshops for children every week, Turkish and English language courses, cultural events alongside dinners in the Open Kitchen, and thanks to volunteers, legal or language assistance. The centre is also made available to the many associations that help refugees in Izmir. The aim is to overcome isolation and foster inclusion within the ethnic groups not only of the Kurds and Arabs who live in the neighbourhood, but also to facilitate encounters with the Turks themselves. "The important thing is to enter into relations of trust with the neighbourhood and the city, and it takes a long time for this to happen," explains a local woman who works at Kapılar.
