Aisha from Istanbul works in a friend's café in Kadıköy. The neighbourhood is her home, the regular customers a second family. Because of galloping inflation, the rents are to be adjusted, including hers. She fights her landlord's eviction with all her possibilities. She would like to open her own restaurant: an impossibility in these unstable times.

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Behind her red simit stall at the ferry port of Kadıköy, 44-year-old Aleyna sells the typical sesame curls every day. As the only woman in this position, she had to stand up to hostility and harassment from men. In the meantime, she has been standing here for 16 years, knows the people and their stories. She helps where she can; gives some of her simit to hungry people. 

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Arden is in his mid-twenties and born in Istanbul, they is nonbinary. As a DJ and music producer, Arden is active in Istanbul's queer nightlife. Arden is experiencing the government's openly practiced queer-hostility is clearly, even though they feels comfortable in the neighbourhoods where they work, Kadıköy and Beyoğlu.

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Fleur, a French student, came to Istanbul to study here for a year as part of erasmus+. She fell in love with the metropolis of millions and its diversity. Travelling through Turkey and talking to locals, she became aware of the dimension of political and economic problems and their influence on realities of life. She also learned a lot about herself and became aware of her privileges.

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Mehmet moved from Urfa to Istanbul with his family one year ago and has been working as a "rubbish collector" in the streets of Kadıköy ever since. Almost every day, the thirteen-year-old searches the rubbish containers for paper and plastic to sell it afterwards for a few liras. His brother Baran, three years younger, also earns money this way. Actually, both of them would like to see more of the city, go to school regularly and become police officer or soldier later.

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The 18-year-old Miro from the Kurdish city of Van comes to Istanbul to prepare for an exam and work part-time. Six days a week he waits tables in an uncle's café, learns English and is, for the first time almost free of family pressure. He makes friends and has little time to study. Eventually, because of inflation, he can no longer finance his life in Kadıköy.

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Paul is in his late twenties and ended up in Kadıköy by chance. He wanted to get away from the States and is now living very well in Istanbul. The reason is the comparatively stable salary in US dollars, which would be small for a life in the US, but offers him the opportunity to build his start-up in Turkey. Paul was born in Russia, but after leaving the country 10 years ago, he didn’t go back until now: to escape military service. With Putin’s war, a Russian migrant community is now forming in Istanbul, reminding him of his old home.

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Pinar's dream is Italy, because she does not feel equal and accepted as a woman in Turkey. The freelancer has a very international group of friends. Without them, there would be no reason for her to stay in Kadıköy. Her fear of sexual harassment and assault, which she has already experienced, is too big to live a normal life.

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Uysal is of Kurdish origin and lived in many places. He lost his job as a teacher with the "purge" after the 2016 coup attempt and now works for an NGO that advocates for children's rights and safety. In the course of his job, he mainly meets people who belong to marginalised population groups. The Inflation is hitting them particularly hard. 

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