CIVIL ENTERPRISE & LEADERSHIP

In the early years of the campaign Eminönü, as an independent district and one of Istanbul’s most historic neighborhoods, had a daytime population of over 2 million. In the evening hours however, the number of citizens who actually resided and lived in the area would dwindle to nearly nothing. For this reason, residents didn’t feel a connection with their neighborhood but rather saw it as a transient place for people to come to work and then go home again. As a result, preserving the neighborhood’s cultural legacy was of no concern to them. Initially, the text for a symbolic “Declaration of Citizenship” was drafted at this event. Those who accepted the declaration, who saw Eminönü as their own neighborhood and promised to protect it, were to be the "real citizens.” At a ceremony with traditional horns and drums in the Nur-u Osmaniye neighborhood, citizens lined up to sign the Declaration and each was awarded an “Eminönü Citizen” rosette on their lapel.