Decision 47 COM 7B.132

Wooden Hypostyle Mosques of Medieval Anatolia (Türkiye)

The World Heritage Committee,

1. Having examined Document WHC/25/47.COM/7B,
2. Recalling its Decision 45 COM 8B.46 adopted at the extended 45th session (Riyadh, 2023),
3. Recognises the efforts made by the State Party to enhance the state of conservation and management of the property, in particular the completion of an updated Conservation Plan and the ongoing work on a second, both of which include provisions for the protection not only of the component parts of the property but also of their respective buffer zones, and the establishment of a consolidated and extended Advisory Board and the creation of the sub-working groups to coordinate efforts across the serial property;
4. Recalls the previous concerns raised at the time of inscription, notes the progress made by the State Party in implementing some actions to address them, and further notes that several important requests remain at the planning stage or have yet to be fully implemented;
5. Requests the State Party to:
   1. Continue updating the outdated Conservation Plans for the component parts,
   2. Complete and implement the outstanding proposals identified in the state of conservation report, in particular those related to the comprehensive documentation of all mosques following a common standard and the collection of baseline data for monitoring and management;
   3. Continue controlling the factors affecting the property and, in particular, immediately address the threats common to all five component parts, including fire, insects, moisture and deterioration of settings,
   4. Prioritise the development and implementation of carrying capacity studies to manage the potential impacts of increased tourism, and integrate these findings into the updated management strategies and Visitor Management Plans,
   5. Complete and implement the Risk Management Plan for the serial property to address environmental, climatic, and human-induced threats, including strategies for monitoring and responding to unforeseen challenges,
   6. Finalise the Maintenance Manual for the property, tailored to both the regular maintenance team and mosque officials, ensuring that it is in line with international standards and practices, and implement capacity building activities to ensure appropriate maintenance practices,
   7. Implement the priority actions identified by the Scientific Committee and the extended Advisory Board to ensure that the attributes underlying the property’s Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) are safeguarded and that its conditions of authenticity and integrity are maintained;
   8. Develop clear indicators using the resource manual Enhancing Our Heritage Toolkit 2.0 to better assess and monitor the implementation of the Management Plan;
6. Appreciates the State Party’s cautious decision to halt the cable car project and encourages the State Party to invite a World Heritage Centre/ICOMOS Advisory mission to the property to ascertain the impacts and to suggest alternatives, if any, that appear feasible and consistent with the attributes underlying the property’s OUV and the role of the setting in protecting these attributes.
7. Finally requests the State Party to submit to the World Heritage Centre, by 1 December 2026, an updated report on the state of conservation of the property and the implementation of the above, for examination by the World Heritage Committee at its 49th session.