Decision 41 COM 7B.50

Diyarbakır Fortress and Hevsel Gardens Cultural Landscape (Turkey) (C 1488)

The World Heritage Committee,

1. Having examined Document WHC/17/41.COM/7B,
2. Recalling Decisions 39 COM 8B.32 and 40 COM 7B.60, adopted at its 39th (Bonn, 2015) and 40th (Istanbul/UNESCO, 2016) sessions respectively,
3. Acknowledges the efforts made by the State Party to implement the recommendations made by the Committee in previous Decisions, as well as the initiatives taken by the State Party to protect the property and its buffer zone and underlines the importance of preventing any further damage to the property;
4. Encourages the State Party to continue with work related to rehabilitation of Surici District within the buffer zone,
5. Requests the State Party to initiate the elaboration of a Master Plan for restoration and rehabilitation activities within the property, which should include information and documentation on techniques and materials;
6. Also requests the State Party, to carry out Heritage Impact Assessments (HIAs) for urban design projects such as “Urban Design Project for Cevatpaşa Neighborhood Iç Kale Valley”, which may threaten the Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) of the property, in conformity with the ICOMOS Guidelines on HIAs for World Heritage cultural properties;
7. Further requests the State Party to invite, when the situation allows, a joint World Heritage Centre/ICOMOS Reactive Monitoring mission to the property to evaluate the nature and extent of any threats and to propose appropriate measures to be taken;
8. Finally requests the State Party to submit to the World Heritage Centre, by 1 December 2018, a report on the state of conservation of the property and the implementation of the above, for examination by the World Heritage Committee at its 43rd session in 2019.