This rumbustious city is an incredibly attractive spot for internal and external migrants who, upon entry into Istanbul, are engulfed by its rundown shantytowns and ghettos.

Tarlabasi, a shantytown located in the heart of Istanbul just a few minutes walk from Taksim Square, is considered to be a no-go area among many Istanbullus and tourists alike because it is believed to house the most discontent of the migrant communities in Istanbul.

It’s amusing to watch many a backpacker dive randomly from Tarlabasi Avenue into one of the side streets only to come out looking petrified minutes later. I, on the other hand, consider myself a local in Istanbul and I confidently venture into the core of Tarlabasi, passing smiles and nods at voluptuous Roma women perched on the sidewalk washing the sooth off their carpets into the street and at dozens of loquacious youths playing football.

Although the ethnic composition of each wave of migration that Tarlabasi received since the 1990s is disputed, the prevalence of Kurdish and Roma residents is quite obvious. Passing by barbershops and bakkals, small grocery stores selling mostly outdated goods, I also hear what I assume to be Nigerian and Arabic blending into the beat of the Arabesque music whizzing out of the butchers.

In fact, this dainty and piquant neighborhood in the Beyoglu district is traditionally home to Istanbul’s Greek Orthodox community and has for long been a proud, affluent area known for its beautiful apartments, breezy alleys, and the city’s largest Syriac church.

I usually stop in front of large, ornate buildings to read the engravings over the gate or on the façade. Most buildings are dated around 1800s and look tired, grim and hung-over.

There and then I wonder: Is Tarlabasi, once a lively, throbbing neighborhood accommodating Greeks, Armenians, Syriacs, and Muslims, now nearing its poor and destitute death? Then again, I gaze at the jazzy collection of wigs, boas, and funky underwear lining the windows of Tarlabasi Avenue shops, and listen to the jeer of countless children playing hopscotch on its streets and think: “Tarlabasi will outlive us all”.