Diyarbakır Fortress and Hevsel Gardens Cultural Landscape

• Concern over the situation prevailing in Diyarbakir (issue resolved)
• Rehabilitation and reconstruction works and development
• Ground transport infrastructure (roads)
• Water infrastructure
• Impacts of tourism/visitor/recreation
• Management system/Management and Conservation Plan modified
• Land Conversion

On 1 February 2020, the State Party submitted a state of conservation report, the executive summary of which is available at https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1488/documents/, which addresses the recommendations of the World Heritage Committee as follows:

• Work carried out at the Diyarbakir City Walls is considered to have had no negative impact on the Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) of the property. It addressed vegetal growth, moisture and damage caused by environmental factors. Unlicensed buildings in the vicinity of the walls were demolished and graffiti cleaned;
• In the buffer zone (Surici District), urban design and rehabilitation projects became urgent after destruction following the terrorist incidents in 2015. Emphasis is given to maintaining the integrity and the traditional and historic fabric of the region. These projects are considered to have no negative impact on the OUV and have not been subject to Heritage Impact Assessments (HIAs);
• The 2016 amendments, which take into consideration the general principles of the 2012 Conservation Plan, have been inserted to the 2012 Conservation Plan and submitted as an annex to the State Party’s report. The amendments refer to a Conservation Implementary Development Plan covering the walled city urban archaeological site and the walls and Urban Design Project, and provide implementation provisions for urban design, the expansion of some roads and amendments to provide public security and facilities;
• Besides the HIA carried out for the Tigris River Rehabilitation Project, an HIA has been initiated for the Tigris Valley Eastern Surici Landscaping Project. The implementation of the Landscaping Project for Areas outside Diyarbakir City Walls has not yet started. Implementation of the urban renewal project in the Yenişehir District has not yet started;
• Rehabilitation works in the buffer zone (Surici District) consist of evacuating and demolishing highly damaged risky structures and the creation of new ones in line with the strategies defined in the Urban Design Guide for Sur and the Conservation Plan. Traditional examples of civil architecture from the Surici District are studied, documented and taken as references and models for the new constructions;
• The joint World Heritage Centre/ICOMOS Reactive Monitoring mission requested by Decision 41 COM 7B.50 (Krakow, 2017), was scheduled to take place in April 2020 but was postponed due to current health pandemic;
• In 2019, excavations to the Divanhane section of the Artukid Palace continued.

It is regrettable that no details of the urban rehabilitation projects at the Diyarbakir City Walls and the buffer zone of Surici District have been submitted by the State Party. It is also regrettable that the reconstruction works are continuing before the Reactive Monitoring mission has taken place, and against the recommendations of the World Heritage Committee. The World Heritage Centre has received third party information with photographs on the destruction of many buildings after the end of the 2015 incidents, which might suggest that irreversible change of the social and historic fabric of the area has already happened.

It is also a matter of concern that the inclusion of the 2016 amendments in the 2012 Conservation Plan was made before the World Heritage Centre and the Advisory Bodies had the opportunity to review them, and that the implementation of the revised 2012 Conservation Plan (henceforth referred to as the "2016 Conservation Plan") was not halted in accordance with the explicit request by the World Heritage Committee in its last decision (43 COM 7B.90). The amendments include provisions already executed that may have already harmed the OUV of the property, such as the provision for formalising the recently inserted ring road adjacent to the Diyarbakir City Walls. The 2016 Conservation Plan with all its annexes and supporting planning instruments should be reviewed by the Advisory Bodies before implementation. It is therefore recommended that the Committee request the State Party to halt the implementation of the 2016 Conservation Plan and to revert to the 2012 Conservation Plan until the revised Conservation Plan with its Conservation Implementary Development Plan covering the walled city urban archeological site and the walls and Urban Design Project have been submitted to the World Heritage Centre and the Advisory Bodies for review.

Besides the HIA carried out for the Tigris River Rehabilitation Project and the HIA initiated for the Tigris Valley Eastern Surici Landscaping Project, numerous other projects ongoing or under planning are continuing without the State Party indicating its intention of conducting or submitting HIAs. It is recommended that the Committee request the State Party to halt the reconstruction and rehabilitation or reprogramming projects in progress or in the process of planning in the property and its buffer zone that may have an impact on the property’s OUV until the Reactive Monitoring mission has visited the property and its conclusions are known. The State Party should also be requested to submit the project documentation and the results of independent HIAs for all projects that are planned for review by the Advisory Bodies, including a section on the potential impacts of the projects on the OUV of the property, before the beginning of any works.

It is finally recommended that the joint World Heritage Centre/ICOMOS Reactive Monitoring mission requested by the Committee, scheduled to take place in April 2020 but postponed due to current health pandemic, be replanned as soon as the sanitary situation allows.