The historic town of Hasankeyf, located on the Upper Tigris River in southeastern Turkey, has been selected as one of Europe’s “7 Most Endangered” heritage sites for 2016.
The announcement, which noted that
Hasankeyf is one of Europe’s most important archaeological sites, was made today
in Venice by Europa Nostra, Europe’s leading heritage organization, and the
European Investment Bank Institute. The nomination was submitted by the Cultural Awareness Foundation and supported by Hasankeyf Matters and the Initiative to Keep Hasankeyf Alive as a step toward preserving the town and supporting an
ongoing dialogue about heritage conservation and sustainability.
Hasankeyf is
under direct threat by the Ilısu Dam and Hydroelectric Power Plant Project. If
implemented as planned, this project will flood the town and destroy most of
its archaeological treasures.
Hasankeyf in
historical context
With a history extending 12,000 years, Hasankeyf holds some
of the earliest evidence of organized settlement discovered anywhere. Known as
“Kifas” in Aramaic, the city was a center for Syriac Christians and became the
seat of a Nestorian bishop in the 5th century CE. From the earliest
years of the Islamic expansion, “Hisn Kayfa,” as it is called in Arabic, served
as an administrative capital for the region.
At the height of its prosperity in the 12th-15th centuries, Hasankeyf was famous for its architectural and technological
innovations and displays even today extensive examples of Seljuk-era urban
infrastructure, including roads, water distribution networks and manufacturing
facilities. Its skyline, dominated by the pylons of a 12th-century
bridge (the largest of its day) and the minarets of two 15th-century mosques, serve
as a reminder that Hasankeyf is also the product of numerous cultures and
civilizations, including the Turkmen Artukids and the Kurdish Ayyubids. Several
monuments reflect both Sunni and Shi’i influences, and in addition to the
town’s numerous mosques and churches, Ottoman population records show
that Hasankeyf continued to be inhabited by both Muslims and Christians for
centuries.
Hasankeyf and the surrounding Tigris Valley are of
extraordinary value to all humanity. The
area was declared a First Degree Archaeological Site by Turkey’s Supreme Board
of Monuments in 1978 and has been under the protection of the Culture
Ministry’s General Directorate of Antiquities and Museums since 1981. However,
Turkey has not nominated the site for World Heritage status, despite the fact
that it likely fulfills
9
of 10 UNESCO criteria, according to a Stanford
University/Doğa Derneği study
authored by Zeynep Ahunbay and Özge Balkız.
Exploring alternative
approaches to heritage conservation and sustainability
Within the framework of the 7 Most Endangered program, a
team of heritage and financial experts from Europa Nostra and the European Investment
Bank Institute will assess the site and help formulate a feasible action plan
for conserving Hasankeyf and its invaluable universal heritage. This study will
be conducted in close cooperation with public and private stakeholders in
Turkey and will take into consideration the investments that have already been
made in the area’s development.
The Government of Turkey has its own vision for salvaging
select monuments and developing the site for tourism. However, no detailed salvage plan has been
disclosed to the public, and there has been little consultation with
representatives of the local and regional population to address their
aspirations for economic advancement and safeguarding cultural heritage. The
lack of a viable scheme for protecting Hasankeyf’s monuments contributed to the
decision taken by Germany, Austria and Switzerland in 2009 to withdraw export
credit support for the Ilısu Project.
It is hoped that a locally grounded management strategy can
be developed to balance heritage conservation and economic growth within the
broad urban ecosystem of Hasankeyf and surrounding villages. Already the first
steps to spur sustainable growth are visible in the ecological villages project launched
by the Hasankeyf District Governor in the nearby village of Üç Yol with the
support of the Tigris Development Agency (DiKA).
Given its historical significance and appealing setting, Hasankeyf and its
hinterlands, which in recent years have attracted hundreds of thousands of
visitors, could accommodate 2 million tourists and generate tourism-related revenues of €500 million annually.
Europa Nostra’s 7 Most Endangered program presents an
opportunity for the Turkish Government to share best practices in heritage
conservation and sustainable economic growth, for example by publishing a
detailed action plan to realize its vision for Hasankeyf. Ideally, in order to
allow time for consensus-building among all stakeholders, construction of the
Ilısu Dam and related projects should be suspended to allow for a fully participative
discussion at all levels of society. Hasankeyf could become a model
for implementing the United Nations’ 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, which
call for cities to be “inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable” by
emphasizing the need to “protect and safeguard the world’s natural and cultural
heritage.”
Europa Nostra
Europa Nostra is a citizens’ movement for safeguarding
Europe’s cultural and natural heritage. Through its pan-European network of 250
member heritage organizations, 150 associated governmental and corporate
organizations and 1500 individual members, Europa Nostra works with policy
makers at local, national and European levels to protect cultural heritage and
promote economic growth and job creation. ‘The 7 Most Endangered’ has the
support of the Creative Europe program of the European Union, as part of Europa
Nostra’s network project “Mainstreaming Heritage.”
Cultural Awareness
Foundation
The membership of the Cultural Awareness Foundation (Kültür Bilincini Geliştirme Vakfı, KBGV)
includes business people, artists, scholars and experts from the fields of art,
architecture, archaeology, history, etc. Through a variety of programs ranging
from seminars and conferences to documentation and conservation projects
(especially focusing on the Byzantine, Seljuk and Ottoman periods), the KBGV
works to raise awareness and increase appreciation of and contribute to the
conservation of diverse sources of cultural heritage in Turkey.
Initiative to Keep
Hasankeyf Alive
Founded in 2006, this coalition of local and regional
activists, local authorities, professional organizations
and NGOs struggles against the Ilısu Project and promotes
social-cultural-ecological development in Hasankeyf and the Upper Tigris Valley.
The coalition’s work includes research and publication, seminars and
consciousness-raising events in Hasankeyf, Batman and Dargecit. It maintains an
information office in Hasankeyf.
Hasankeyf Matters
Hasankeyf Matters is a group of volunteers seeking to raise
awareness about Hasankeyf nationally and internationally by forging links
between the local population and visitors (including bringing together journalists,
artists, walkers, photographers, etc. at twice-yearly “ingatherings” in
Hasankeyf) and serving as an aggregator and distributor of information about
Hasankeyf (news, history, environment, tourism, etc.).
