Diyarbakır Fortress and Hevsel Gardens Cultural Landscape

The World Heritage Centre has received information from third parties and media reports on damages to the World Heritage property “Diyarbakır Fortress and Hevsel Gardens Cultural Landscape”.

On 15 December 2015, 17 December 2015, 6 April 2016 and 27 April 2016, letters were sent by the World Heritage Centre to the State Party requesting information and verification on the state of conservation of the property.

On 11 May 2016, the State Party submitted a report concerning the state of conservation of this property.  This report provides information on the incurred damages and subsequent progress achieved in safeguarding the property.

In its report, the State Party noted the following details:

• A taskforce has been established to assess the damages on the property and its monuments. The taskforce concluded that there exist no major damages to the property in areas such as Diyarbakir Fortress, Ickale and Hevsel Gardens;
• Temporary conservation measures had to be undertaken to protect the property due to terrorist incidents. The bailey, which has 82 bastions, has a number of passes that have been temporarily closed with concrete blocks, in line with a decision taken by the Diyarbakir Regional Board of Conservation of Cultural Heritage, for security reasons. The blocks will be removed at a later stage;
• Damages on the bastions and the walls between the bastions are due to natural and environmental factors. A conservation Master Plan for Diyarbakir Urban Walls has been included in the 2016 investment program of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. Studies in this regard have commenced;
• Damage has been reported in the buffer zone, specifically in the neighbourhood of Surici;
• The Prime Minister of Turkey pledged a recovery plan for Surici, including its conservation.

Following reports on the situation, the property and its buffer zone have been exposed to widespread attacks and consequent security operations in recent months. As such, it has been reported that the historic structures of the property, as well as a number of historic buildings and monuments in the buffer zone suffered damage.

The security situation in Diyarbakir remains challenging for heritage preservation. Notwithstanding these difficulties, some progress has been made with small scale conservation initiatives. The State Party’s efforts in ensuring that the Outstanding Universal Value (OUV), the authenticity and the integrity of the property are sustained, are to be noted.

It is recommended that the responsible authorities take all possible measures to safeguard the property to prevent further damage. It is also recommended that, as soon as the security situation allows, the responsible authorities carry out an in-depth assessment of the state of conservation of the property and its buffer zone. The results of this assessment are to be submitted to the World Heritage Centre and the Advisory Bodies for review, in line with the Operational Guidelines.

It is further recommended that the Committee request the State Party to invite, at a later stage and when the situation allows, a joint World Heritage Centre/Advisory Bodies Reactive Monitoring mission to the property to evaluate the nature and extent of any threats and propose appropriate measures to be taken.