Decision 45 COM 7B.58

Historic Areas of Istanbul (Türkiye) (C 356bis)

The World Heritage Committee,

1. Having examined Document WHC/23/45.COM/7B.Add,
2. Recalling Decisions 42 COM 7B.31 and 44 COM 7B.58 adopted at its 42nd (Manama, 2018) and extended 44th (Fuzhou/online, 2021) sessions respectively,
3. Welcomes the maintenance and repair of Ottoman timber houses and reiterates its request to the State Party to provide information on how this relates to a long-term strategy for timber buildings within the property;
4. Also welcomes the inventory digitization and the systematic survey of the condition of structures by the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Directorate of Cultural Heritage Conservation, in providing a quantitative basis for urgent action on ‘buildings at risk’;
5. Notes the large number of infrastructure and other development/reconstruction/ restoration projects proposed at the property, and regrets that for all of these projects appropriate documentation was not submitted to the World Heritage Centre in a timely manner and that for a number of them no Heritage Impact Assessment (HIA) was prepared despite the Committee’s request in Decision 44 COM 7B.58;
6. Reiterates its request to the State Party to develop a comprehensive roadmap, including short and long-term strategies covering all types of projects which may have an impact on the Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) of the property, in close cooperation with the World Heritage Centre and the Advisory Bodies, before any irreversible decisions are taken, and to submit this road map to the World Heritage Centre by 1 February 2024;
7. Notes with concern the third-party reports of damage and degradation at Hagia Sophia and invites the State Party to regularly share information with the World Heritage Centre on the measures taken to remedy this situation, on the visiting conditions in place since February 2021 and on its efforts to monitor the overall state of conservation of the property, and to take into account the recommendations from previous missions,
8. Also requests the State Party to submit to the World Heritage Centre for review details of the restoration works at Chora, indicating the level of progress, and to report on the progress in the development of a Master Plan for the Chora area;
9. Further requests the State Party to fully implement the recommendations of the UNESCO Advisory missions that took place in October 2020 and January/February 2021, taking into account the potential impact that changes at Hagia Sophia and Chora may have on the OUV of the property and to inform the World Heritage Centre of their status of implementation and of any plans for major restoration or new construction projects that may affect the OUV of the property;
10. Further notes the submission of the HIA of the Kazliçeşme Marina project and requests the State Party to revise the project in line with the recommendations of the ICOMOS Technical Review, including three-dimensional modelling and preparation of a final HIA in conformity with the Guidance and Toolkit for Impact Assessments in a World Heritage Context;
11. Also requests the State Party to undertake HIAs, as well as Tourism Environmental Impact Assessments for all large-scale projects, including the Yenikapi Cruise Port, the proposals for the development of the Fortress as a tourist attraction and international exhibition centre, as well as of works at the Grand Bazaar, with a view of mitigating, if not avoiding, their negative impact on the OUV of the property, and to submit these reports to the World Heritage Centre for review by the Advisory Bodies before irreversible decisions are taken;
12. Notes with regret that the Management Plan submitted by the State Party was officially adopted in 2018 without defining the attributes that convey the OUV of the property, and without submitting it to the World Heritage Centre for review by the Advisory Bodies prior to its formal adoption, and requests the State Party to submit a revised draft defining the attributes that convey the OUV of the property to the World Heritage Centre for review by the Advisory Bodies;
13. Further calls on the State Party to invite a joint World Heritage Centre/ICOMOS Reactive Monitoring mission to the property, as soon as possible, in order to examine the overall state of conservation of the property and the level of implementation of previous Committee Decisions and recommendations from previous Advisory missions, to review and assess the different types of projects undertaken in and around the property for their possible impact on the property’s OUV, and to consider progress with the development of a long-term strategy of timber buildings, and a strategic road map for projects;
14. Finally requests the State Party to submit to the World Heritage Centre, by 1 February 2024, an updated report on the state of conservation of the property, in the format of submission included in Annex 13 of the Operational Guidelines, and on the implementation of the above, for examination by the World Heritage Committee at its 46th session.