Selcan Kesman holds her distraught son, surrounded by her children and several nieces and nephews. Kesman shares the the tiny squatter dwelling with 3 families, 18 people in total. Despite living in Istanbul for over ten years, the families say they are discriminated against for being Kurdish. Feeling alone and isolated, she and her two sister-in-laws often confine themselves to the small ramshackle community they live in. The women say they feel as though integration is much harder for them than their husbands. “We can’t even ask our neighbors to watch our kids,” said her sister in-law, Gulcan Kesman.
(photo by Amanda Voisard)