JINHA

AMED - 40th session of the World Heritage Committee is being held in Istanbul. The committee is expected to discuss the draft decision on Sur in the session to be held tomorrow. Meanwhile, Counterforum against 40th session of the World Heritage Committee is being held on July 16 in Istanbul.

The 40th session of the World Heritage Committee began at the Istanbul Congress Center. Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmuş, Minister of Culture and Tourism Nabi Avcı, UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova, UNESCO representatives and local administrators, Diyarbakır Metropolitan Municipality co-mayor Gültan Kışanak, Head of the Department Cultural Heritage Nevin Soyukaya and Deputy Secretary General of the Cultural Heritage Necati Pirinççioğlu attended the meeting.

The meeting began with the effective speech of UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova stating that world heritage and cultural diversity are under attack. After the opening speech, the General Assembly began to debating the issues on the agenda. The General Assembly is expected to discuss the destruction on cultural and historical structures in Sur in the session to be held tomorrow.

Meanwhile, it come to light that UNESCO World Heritage Committee prepared a draft decision about Sur to be presented in meeting held in Istanbul during the preparation meeting held on June 27 in France. According to reports, this draft decision will be discussed tomorrow. In the draft decision, there are issues such as the current status of Sur, answers given by the Ministry and the results of the analysis report. According to draft decision, UNESCO wrote four times to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and asked the accuracy of news about Sur. Yet, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism provided answer to UNESCO on May 11, 2016.

A forum named Counterforum will be held on July 16 at Istanbul Metropolitan Branch of the Union of Chambers of Turkish Engineers and Architects (UCTEA) on July 16 against the 40th session of the World Heritage Committee. The Opponent Forum members published a text reads as: "The UNESCO World Heritage Committee, who claims that all natural and cultural entities recorded in the World Heritage List are the common heritage of all humanity, are coming to Istanbul to hold their 40th annual meeting between 10th and 20th July 2016. The meeting will open with presentation of 2015 World Heritage Committee report, and will be followed by the discussion on whether or not the items recorded in the World Heritage List are actually protected; thus, suggestions and protection strategies will be determined for the ones that are considered under threat. Temporary lists will be made for suggested new items to be included in the World Heritage List, and it will be updated accordingly. This 40th meeting of UNESCO will be hosted by Turkish Government, who is responsible for destruction of natural and cultural heritage -whether or not included in the World Heritage List- through political decisions, warfare, and aggressive capitalist stance. Although the UNESCO meeting will be held in Istanbul, which has been in the World Heritage List with its historic city center for the last 31 years, the case of plundering its historical tissue in the name of capitalist accumulation through the pressure of tourism, and construction will not be discussed. The demolition of the WHS, historical neighborhood in Suleymaniye, giving way to an urban renewal project, just like the massive destruction of old neighborhoods in Ayvansaray and Sulukule, causing them to lose their essential values will not be in its agenda. Moreover, devastation of the city’s forests and wetlands via ‘crazy – mega’ or so called projects will not be discussed in this meeting. The destruction of Sur district, which remains inside the buffer zone of the cultural landscape formed by Diyarbakir castle and Hevsel gardens (WHS since 2015), including the Kursunlu Mosque, Four-pillard minaret, numerous churches, and centuries old residential areas, through warfare will not be mentioned. Thousands of years of old residential area and the archeological site, Hasankeyf, will be inundated in order to satisfy the capitalist greed for profit and this will not be taken into consideration because it is not included in the WH list. Natural and cultural entities cannot be protected only by taking them into the lists, or ignoring their destruction side by side or with the ones who are responsible for their plundering and obliteration.

UNESCO, maintaining its existence by the financial sources granted by governments, and keeping its silence, and indifference during the times of war and destruction, has honored the mayor of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality with a medal for “his personal contributions for the protection of cultural heritage”, who is actually the very person responsible for land filling 1 million cubic meters of sea area in Yenikapi, by ignoring the history and making way to plunder where new information was discovered dating back to 8500 years in the history of Istanbul!

We do not trust UNESCO’s discourses on “common heritage”, “neutrality”, and “protection” about the cultural and natural entities. We believe that the cultural essence of our habitats cannot be protected by governments and institutions formed by them. But it can be protected only in solidarity with local inhabitants personally; thus, it can be conveyed to our future generations as heritage. We invite all individuals, and institutions who want to protect life, history, and cultural memory to knit the solidarity against wars, and capitalist aggression, against governments who carry these aggressions out, and against bodies like UNESCO who absolve the governments. We invite you to discuss together how to effectively protect our natural, historical, and cultural entities, instead of abstract discour."

Signatures;

Amed Sur Dayanışma Derneği (Amed Sur Solidarity Association), Arkeologlar Derneği İstanbul Şubesi (Archaeology Association), BODEP - Boğaziçi Dernekleri Platformu (Bosphorus Plattform of Association), ÇHD - Çağdaş Hukukçular Derneği- İstanbul Şubesi (Contemporary Lawyers Association), DAM-Dersim Araştırmalar Merkezi (Dersim Researches Center), Dersim Gazetesi (Dersim Newspaper), DİSK - Devrimci İşçi Sendikaları Konfederasyonu- İstanbul Bölge Temsilciliği (Revolutionary Workers Union Confederation, Istanbul Branch), Divriği Kültür Derneği (Divriği Culture Association), FAM Yayınları (FAM Publisher), Gökkuşağı Kadın Derneği (Rainbow Women Association), Haliç Dayanışması (Goldern Horn Solidarity), Hasankeyfi Yaşatma Girişimi (Initiative to Keep Hasankeyf Alive), HDK - Halkların Demokratik Kongresi- Ekoloji Meclisi (HDK – Peoples Democratic Congress - Ecology Council), HDK Kültür ve Sanat Komisyonu (HDK Culture and Art Commission), İKS - İstanbul Kent Savunması (IKS - Istanbul City Defense), İstanbul SOS Platformu (Istanbul SOS Plattform), İHD - İnsan Hakları Derneği- İstanbul Şubesi (IHD - Human Rights Association), Karakoçan Dernekleri Federasyonu (PLattform of Karakocan Associations), Kartal Hukukçular Derneği (Kartal Lawyers Association), Kent Hareketleri (City Movements), KESK-Kamu Emekçileri Sendikası Konfederasyonu (KESK - Confederation of Public Workers Union), MEH - Mezopotamya Ekoloji Hareketi (Mesopotamian Ecology Movement), MHD - Mezopotamya Hukukçular Derneği (Mesopotamian Lawyers Association), ÖDAV - Özgürlükçü Demokrat Avukatlar (Libertarian Democratic Lawyers), Öğretim Üyeleri Derneği (Association of Faculty Members), Özgürlükçü Hukukçular Derneği (Libertarian Lawyers Association), Özgür Kadın Kongresi-KJA (Free Women Association) Sosyal Haklar Derneği (Social Rights Association) Su Hakkı Kampanyası (Water Right Campaign) Sur Koruma ve Yaşatma Derneği (Sur Conservation and Keeping Alive Association), Tarihi Yedikule Bostanları Koruma Girişimi (Conservation Initiative of the Historical Yedikule Gardens), TMMOB - Türkiye Mimar Mühendisleri Odalar Birliği - Çevre Mühendisleri Odası İstanbul Şubesi (TMMOB Chamber of Environmental Engineers, Istanbul Branch), TMMOB İl Koordinasyon Kurulu (TMMOB Istanbul Provincial Coordination Council) TMMOB Kimya Mühendisleri Odası İstanbul Şubesi (TMMOB Chamber of Chemical Engineers, Istanbul Branch) TMMOB Mimarlar Odası Diyarbakır Şubesi (TMMOB Chamber of Architects, Diyarbakir Branch), TMMOB Mimarlar Odası İstanbul Büyükkent Şubesi (TMMOB Chamber of Architects, Istanbul Branch), TMMOB Şehir Plancıları Odası Diyarbakır Şubesi (TMMOB Chamber of Urban Planners, Diyarbakir Branch), TMMOB Şehir Plancıları Odası İstanbul Şubesi (TMMOB Chamber of Urban Planners, Istanbul Branch), TTB - Türk Tabibleri Birliği- İstanbul Tabip Odası (Turkish Medical Doctors Union, Istanbul Branch), Ünye Fatsa Doğa Koruma Platformu (Ünye Fatsa Nature Conservation Plattform), Yargıçlar Savcılar Birliği YARSAV (Union of Judges and Prosecutors) Yargıçlar Sendikası (Trade Union of Judges), Yeşil Öfke Ekoloji Kolektifi (Green Rage Ecoloical Collective)

(dk/gd)