Abandoned buildings and wasteland in the neighborhood have been transformed into shooting locations of a TV series titled "Cukur" or "The Pit" in English. On the wall of a building, "Cukur" is written in big fonts while one of the slogans in the TV series "Cukur is our home, Idris is our father!" can be read on the wall of an abandoned building. (Xinhua photo by Zeynep Cermen)
ISTANBUL, March 19 (Xinhua) -- What do you think of a neighborhood where residents struggling for a living were mingled with drug dealers and mobs?
The Lonca neighborhood, located on a hill that overlooks the Golden Horn in Istanbul's Fatih district, was considered until recently one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in the metropolis with a high crime rate.
Things are turning better now after Ay Yapim, a TV production company, discovered the location and booked it to shoot a TV series titled "Cukur" or "The Pit" in English last September.
A frantic transformation has begun in the area ever since.
Many of the residents have been included in the show as supporting roles or walk-ons, while abandoned buildings and wasteland have been transformed into shooting locations.
Small restaurants and grocery stores have seen their sales grow by at least 30 percent. Each day a new coffeeshop opens up for business, pushing up rents in the neighborhood.
The neighborhood is now renamed after the TV series.
"The entire Cukur has become a point of attraction," said Lokman Akkaya, who has also renamed his doner kebab restaurant after the TV series.
"Every day people from all around the country, along with Turkish expats mostly from Germany and tourists, flock into the area, taking photos with the cast or taking selfies in front of the well-known venues of the series," he told Xinhua.
The visitors usually wait hours for the daily shootings, he noted.
According to Ay Yapim executives, "Cukur" has become very popular across the world with sales booming, including Latin America, the Balkans and the Middle East.
"Each day at least 50 persons ask me about the directions to Cukur," said Salih Gezgin, the owner of a meatball restaurant close to the Cukur neighborhood, which has witnessed a skyrocketing increase in business since the start of the TV shootings.
"Last weekend we made the biggest turnover in the last two years," he added.
Cukur is focusing on the story of a kingpin, Idris Kocovali, and his family who run the neighborhood. Kocovali does not allow the sale or use of drugs in the area, but the rule is broken after the intrusion of a new group.
Posted on the walls of the ratty buildings in the neighborhood are some slogans in the TV series - "Cukur is our home, Idris is our father!" "There is no exit from Cukur!"
Alara Hamamcioglu, an executive producer assistant with Ay Yapim, told Xinhua that the location and its residents are so real that they make the series and the cast very popular.
In her view, scouting the right neighborhood for the series was the most difficult part of the production process so far. "There was nowhere left in the city that we did not check out and finally we came across Cukur here," she said.
Each week the production team needs a different number of walkers-on. Their number goes up to 100 for some weeks, according to Hamamcioglu.
"We create significant job opportunities for the people and especially for the youths of the neighborhood," she said, noting they either play as walk-ons, help secure the production team and the cast, or help them solve all kinds of problems.
"The neighborhood was not that crowded until recently and our economy was not brilliant at all," said Ugur Aydas, who was on a parking lot that has been transformed into an open-air stage.
The 28-year-old has tried on several jobs, including running a traditional coffeehouse. Now with three friends, he is working with the production company as a location scout, finding the right houses or buildings in the neighborhood for the shootings.
"I'm not earning too much but this is more than enough to make ends meet," he said, voicing high hopes for the future. "I am sure that these slums will soon be transformed into an upscale neighborhood like Cihangir, with fancy bars and coffeehouses."
