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Damage Assessment Report on Old City (Suriçi) of Diyarbakir

Conflict Period and following Demolition of the Old city (SURİÇİ) of DIYARBAKIR in which Sur has been declared as “area under hazard risk” according to the Law on Transformation of Areas under Disaster Risk (numbered with 6306) in order to legitimize the destruction.

(Suriçi) of Diyarbakir

12/06/2012

English

Urban Redevelopment, Law on Transformation of Areas under Disaster Risk

Damage Assessment Report on Old City (Suriçi) of Diyarbakir

DAMAGE ASSESSMENT REPORT

Conflict Period and following Demolition of the
Old city (SURİÇİ) of DIYARBAKIR
August 1, 2017

Nevin Soyukaya
Archaeologist
Former head of the UNESCO World Heritage Site
“DIYARBAKIR FORTRESS AND HEVSEL GARDENS CULTURAL LANDSCAPE”

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Damage Assessment Report on Old City (Suriçi) of Diyarbakir

Introduction
The Fortress of Diyarbakir and the Hevsel Gardens Cultural Landscape have maintained their
importance for thousands of years because of its strategic location between the East and the West. The
multi-lingual, multi-cultural and multi-layered character of the walled city, called Suriçi and today part
of the Sur District, has woven many different cultures into its fabric. Diyarbakir has been the heart of
many civilizations and the regional capital at the time of the Persian, Roman, Sassanian, Byzantine and
Islamic empires. The old city has been designed in a way where the magic fortress, specific civil
architecture and street fabric, religious buildings consisting of mosques, churches and synagogues, and
other public buildings such as caravansaries and traditional baths can be observed and experienced as
cultural assets in one settlement area. designated an Urban Conservation Area since 2012. UNESCO
declared the City Walls and adjacent Hevsel Gardens a World Heritage Site in 2015, with the walled
city being the buffer zone.
In Suriçi are located in total 595 registered cultural monuments, 147 of them are examples of
monumental and 448 of civil architecture. The old city Suriçi including its fortress has been registered
as the “Diyarbakir Urban Conservation Area” in 1988.
Suriçi consists of 15 neighborhoods and in 2015 it had a total population of 50.341.
The UNESCO World Heritage nomination process of the fortress and the Hevsel Gardens was
launched in January of 2012. The Site Management Plan was prepared with an active democratic
participation of all relevant institutions, organizations, NGOs, scientists and neighborhood mayors. As
“Diyarbakir Fortress and Hevsel Gardens Cultural Landscape” it was registered as a World Heritage
Site at the 39th Session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee in July 2015.
Only two months after the enlisting as World Heritage Site the regional armed conflict had
grave impacts on Suriçi which is part of the buffer zone. In Surici totally five times curfews have been
declared by the governor between beginning in September 2015 and lasting several days. Particularly
the six neighborhoods Cevat Paşa, Dabanoğlu, Fatih Paşa, Hasırlı, Cemal Yılmaz ve Savaş have been
affected by these 24 hour blockades through the security forces. The last and ongoing curfew dating on
December 11, 2015 is valid for five neighborhoods. Armed skirmishes, curfew and blockades set up by
special police forces and the gendarmerie, continued in five neighbourhoods, and were extended to the
neighbourhoods of Ziya Gökalp, Süleyman Nazif, Abdaldede, Lalebey and Alipasha from 27 January
2016 to 03 February 2016. The Diyarbakir governor’s office declared on the 10 March 2016 that
operations had come to an end. The governor of Diyarbakir declared the end of the operations in the
affected area on March 10, 2016. But before the completion of the operations in February 2016 heavy
equipment and bulldozers of state institutions have started with demolition in the area under curfew
and the excavation of debris. A part of the debris has been dumped at a site of the Diyarbakir Dicle
University and afterwards it has been covered with soil. This illegal action has been documented by the
Environment Conversation Department of the Diyarbakir Metropolitan Municipality on Februrary 29,
2016 (see attachment 1). In an area registered as urban conservation site and buffer zone of a World
Heritage Site demolition and excavation of debris have been executed without assessing the state of the
operations and clashes, without obtaining permission from the responsible Diyarbakir Region
Conservation Board of Cultural Assets. The necessary permissions for the removal of the excavation
were taken out only about a month later. The Conservation Board of Cultural Assets has stated in its
decision with the no. 3873, dated 23 March 2016, that “the removal of debris obstructing streetways
may be allowed under the supervision of the experts of the museum directorate; if debris from partially
of completely destroyed registered buildings is encountered, then all significant construction elements
should be kept at the original site in a proper way, under the supervision of the museum experts, for
later assessment.” (Attachment 1) An aerial photograph taken and handed by a citizen on April 4, 2016,
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and two satellite images commissioned by the Diyarbakir Metropolitan Municipality on May 10 and
August 16, 2016, it could be determined obviously that this decision has not been followed by the state
institutions in the affected area. Hundreds of buildings have been destroyed, roads have been
broadened, areas have been erased and squares created and schools have been turned into
police/military posts. The wide roads now connect these police/military posts. By conducting the
demolition under the observation of the local personnel of the directorate of the Ministry for Culture
and Tourism it has been aimed to giver a legitimate situation. The demolition actions, which have
violated the Urban Conservation Plan and the World Heritage Site Management Plan, have been
conducted without the permission of the responsible municipality, responsible for enforcing these
plans, and the information of the Site Management.
Suriçi as an urban conservation site is object to the Law on the Conservation of Cultural Assets
(No. 2863) and as part of the World Heritage Site under the conservation of international laws. For the
destruction of any registered buildings, it is necessary that;
1) from the Conservation Board of Cultural Assets for each monument separately a decisionis
taken which states the immanent danger of collapse,
2) the technical personnel of the directorate for construction control at the relevant
municipality prepare a report permitting the demolition of each individual building, which state
a risk for life and propriety, according to the Article 39 of the Law on Zoning (Town Planning)
numbered 3194.
3) after the documentation on the claimed risk of collapse the relevant commission of the city
council approves the demolition.
However, for the demolished buildings in the blockaded neighborhoods, neither any technical
assessment have been made nor any required permissions have been obtained from the Conservation
Council for Cultural Assets and the relevant municipality. Today the actions and procedure continue
which violate the national and international rules and regulations and lead to further destruction of the
affected area. Without any design of surveys, restoration and restitution plans for the affected
registered buildings, the remainings of qualitative building elements have been excavated with heavy
equipment and dumped outside of Surici by personnel which have no expertise on this subject. Many
photographs attest to this fact. The destruction by demolition of some monuments are illustrated in the
photographs below:
Hasırlı Cami (Mosque):

Photo 1: Hasırlı Cami (Mosque)

Map 1: Street location of Hasırlı Cami
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Damage Assessment Report on Old City (Suriçi) of Diyarbakir

Photo 2: Aerial photographs underline that the Hasırlı Mosque, located at parcel no. 235/19 has been
completely destroyed and the debris removed, without a trace left in its place.
Armenian Catholic Church:
The bell tower, south courtyard wall and pool in the courtyard have been destroyed completely and the
main entrance door and church outbuilding located to the west of the church have been destroyed
partly. Also a wide road through the area has been opened.

Photo 3: After the restoration in
2014

Photo 4: The destruction
resulting from razing a road
through the church; March
2016

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Damage Assessment Report on Old City (Suriçi) of Diyarbakir

Photo 5: the opened road through the area of the Armenian Catholic Church; May 16, 2016
Novelist Mehmet Uzun’s House:
The registered civil architecture, projected to become the Mehmet Uzun Museum. Restoration process
begun before the conflict but could not be completed. The roof has been destroyed and the carrying
system has been damaged.

Photo 6: Restoration works before the demolition, 2015

Photo 7: Mehmet Uzun House, after demolition; May 10, 2016
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Damage Assessment Report on Old City (Suriçi) of Diyarbakir

Chamber of Trade and Industry building:
The southern part of the building of the Chamber of Trade and Industry has been demolished in order
to widen the Yenikapi Street, which connects the center with the eastern gate Dicle.

Photo 8: View at the registered building belonging to the Chamber of Trade and Industry; May 2016

Photo 9: The Yenikapı street, with an original width of 8m before the demolition, has been turned into
a 15 m wide street.

Photo 10: Excavators in the Yeni Kapı Street

Photo 11: Destruction behind Kurşunlu Mosque, May 2016
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Damage Assessment Report on Old City (Suriçi) of Diyarbakir

After the period of armed conflict, the Site Management and the Diyarbakir Metropolitan
Municipality repeatedly applied to the Governor of Diyarbakir in order to get access and record the
damage, however permission was denied on the grounds that the area was “not safe.”
As a result of the demolition, which is going on since February 2016 as of the writing of this
report (August 1, 2016), Suriçi, buffer zone of the World Heritage Site and a Registered Urban Site has
been turned into a bare flatland. (See Photos 18 and 19). It has been assessed that until at least July
2016 registered buildings have been destroyed completely. Many monuments listed into the Urban
Conservation Plan of 2012, because of their addition to the urban fabric as constructions with
environmental value, have been destroyed completely.
At the 17th plenary session of UNESCO in Paris between October 17 and November 21, 1972,
it was noted that cultural heritage was not vulnerable only to natural and traditional causes of
depreciation, but that changes in social and economic conditions could give rise to much more
threatening conditions of decay and destruction. Therefore it was decided that the member states
should use their resources to the utmost in order to avoid this destruction and when necessary, seek
financial, artistic, scientific and technical aid and cooperation. However, in the case of Suriçi, the state
party has carried out demolition, excavation and debris removal with heavy equipment without even to
undertake basic fact finding and technical and scientific assessment of the damage in the wake of the
armed conflict. Thus the integrity, authenticity and identity of the historical and cultural fabric of the
site has been irreparably damaged.
In order to make in situ assessment and recording of the damage, there are ways to collect the
data without entering the area in question. Using drones or unmanned aerial vehicles, video recordings
and laser scanning techniques as well as satellite images may be used to determine the nature and
extent of the damage. Thus, reliable information could have been gathered without the removal of
qualitative building elements from the area. In this way it could have been possible to decide whether
certain buildings could be saved without tearing them down, and they could have been restored before
all trace of them disappeared. In spite of this, inside the urban historical site, bulldozers and other
heavy equipment have demolished registered monuments and other buildings, roads were built which
do not existed in the Urban Conservation Plan of 2012, existing streets were broadened and the
specific plan fabric of the city destroyed. With the excavations and debris removal which totally wiped
out the traces of the buildings in five blockaded neighborhoods, this area has been erased completely,
the original fabric, integrity and authenticity of the historical city has been altered irreversibly.
The satellite images from different dates and pictures taken by citizens in planes reveal the
described destruction. The total area of Sur has 148 hectares, the blockaded neighborhoods make up 75
hectares.

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Photo 12: Satellite image, before conflict; 2015

Photo 13: view from commercial flight; April 2016

After the state operations demolitions were carried in areas with “security priority”. Schools were
turned into police stations and roads erased to connect police stations

Photo 14: Satelllite image May 10 2016,

Photo 17: Satellite image, August 16, 2016.
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Damage Assessment Report on Old City (Suriçi) of Diyarbakir

Photo 18: Picture taken from a commercial flight; April 4, 2017

Photo 19: Inside the walled old city, erased and turned into a flatland; April 19, 2017

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Damage Assessment Report on Old City (Suriçi) of Diyarbakir

Photo 20: Picture taken from a commercial flight; May 4, 2017
Total number of parcels of land in Sur is 7714. In the 6 blockaded neighbourhoods this number
amounts to 3646. The parcels belonging to the demolished buildings were documented by
superposition the cadastral maps with the satellite images. Satellite images from May 10, 2016 show
that 10 hectares have been demolished, whereas in August 16, 2016 the destruction covers 20 hectares.
After the seizing of the Diyarbakir Metropolitan Municipality and Sur Municipality and appointing of
an forced administrator, satellite images are not available but pictures were taken from commercial
flights during landing or take off. (Photos 13 - 20).

Maps 2 and 3: Satellite picture. (left) Surici with marked destroyed area, and (right) marked locations
of demolished registered or demolished environmentally significant buildings; May 10, 2016
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Damage Assessment Report on Old City (Suriçi) of Diyarbakir

From the satellite image of August 16, 2016 it has been assessed that a total of 1519 buildings and
other constructions have been destroyed completely, among them registered civil and monumental
buildings. 89 registered monuments have been destroyed completely and 40 partially. 41 monuments
have only been damaged. Of these registered structures 76 are of civil, 13 of monumental and 81
marked as environmentally significant buildings. These numbers are growing every day.

Map 4: Satellite image illustrating demolition in the old city. August 16, 2016
The destruction of historical Suriçi took place in two different periods. The first was the period of
armed conflict lasting from 9 September 2015 to 10 March 2016, the second period is characterized
by systematic demolition and annihilation started on March 10, 2016 after the stop of the state
operations an still continues.
In the first stage heavy weapons, artillery, tanks, bombs and explosives were used. But the irreversible
damage was inflicted in the second stage when demolition and excavations uprooted even the
foundations of the buildings.

Forced displacement
Starting from 9 September 2015, curfew has been declared in Suriçi six times with brief intervals, and
the old city has been put under a total blockade. In this period the security forces have forced the
residents to leave their houses. On December 10, 2015, the curfew was lifted for a several hours which
resulted in the almost depopulating of the area. Ten thousands of people became refugees in their own
city, without being supplied them with sheltering and other essential needs. The population of Sur,
according to the 2015 census was 50.341. In the six neighborhoods, where armed clashes took place
and a continuous curfew was declared, the population amounted to 22.323 people. This population has
been evicted from their homes. In May 2016, the blockade was lifted completely in the Cevatpaşa and
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Damage Assessment Report on Old City (Suriçi) of Diyarbakir

partly in the Abdaldede neighborhoods and the residents could return to their homes. The large part of
the five other neighbrhoods, where the blockade continues, has been turned into barren land as a result
of the intended systematic demolition. This policy has both destroyed the civil constructions and
monuments and interrupted the continuity of life in the eastern half of the old city.

Photos 21 and 22: Images of forced eviction from the blockaded quarters, December 10, 2015

Decision on Expropriation
After the end of state operations, on 21 March 2016 the Council of Ministers took a decision on
the expropriation of 6292 out of 7714 parcels in Suriçi based on the article 27 of the low on
expropriation. By this decision, 82% of the parcels in Suriçi shall be expropriated by the Turkish
government. A large part of the remaining 18% is in the possession of the Housing Development
Administration TOKI and the Treasury, i.e. of the Turkish state. As a result, Suriçi will be entirely
passed into public ownership. This also means that the residents of these five affected neighborhoods
will most probably not be able to return.

Map 5: Map of the area to be expropriated. Red indicates the parcels marked for expropriation. Blue
parcels that are not included

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Damage Assessment Report on Old City (Suriçi) of Diyarbakir

Revision of the for Urban Conservation Plan
In 1988, Suriçi was registered as an Urban Conservation Site. As a necessity of national and
International law, in 1990 the first Urban Conservation Plan has been designed and approved, and then
revised in 2012. All stakeholders of the city have participated in this revision leaded by the Diyarbakir
Metropolitan Municipality. This work was based on the 1952 cadastral map sections. Conserved for
hundred of years, the streets, insulas and parcels have not been altered and rather it designed within the
authentic and specific fabric of Suriçi. With the cooperation of the Diyarbakir Museum Directorate, all
the historical buildings in the area have been ascertained and inventory of the registered monuments
updated. Furthermore, constructions considered as important for the old city were designated as
“Constructions of contextual value” and included in the plan as construction to be conserved. This
citizen-oriented conservation plan, prioritizing conservation theorem and regulations, became an
important document in the UNESCO application procedure.
However, in the course of the demolitions continuing non-stop since March 2016, the Urban
Conservation Plan has been revised by the Ministry of Environment and Urbanization in December
2016, without to consult the Diyarbakir Metropolitan or local Municipalities. This act follows based on
high security priority the long expressed purpose to implement gentrification and commercialization in
the historical site Suriçi. This new security minded urban conservation plan intends, in effect, to create
legitimacy and legality for the demolitions in Suriçi which destroyed the authenticity and cultural
fabric. The official reason for the revision has been stated as security. In this sense, schools have been
turned into military/police stations, but no alternative educational areas have been determined. Areas
around military/police stations and streets connecting these stations have been widened so much
allowing the passage of military vehicles, including tanks. The Yenikapı street with a width of 7-8 m
and high intensity of registered monuments, has been widened to 15 m.
The revised plan has been examined by the Diyarbakir branch of the Chambers of Architects and
Engineers of Turkey (TMMOB). The report has assessed 17 different violations of urban and
conservationist norms. (http://www.dimod.org.tr/mimarlarodasi/haber_detay.asp?id=314) A sample of
the criticisms put forth by the TMMOB Diyarbakir branch, is provided below.
Paragraph 3: The changes introduced in the mentioned “Urban Conservation Plan Revision” (KAIPD)
are all justified on grounds of security, and thus planning is reduced to an instrument of ‘defence’. This
security-centred approach ignores all other considerations and violates the principles of urban
planning, the basics of interdisciplinary planning and public benefit.
Paragraph 4:
An examination of the plan revision justification report reveals that the justification consists only of
security considerations, and that it takes no account of Suriçi as a World Heritage Site where any
interventions to the urban fabric will give rise to irreversible losses. The plan report is therefore ridden
with inconsistencies. While in the introduction, the unique values of the city are mentioned, in the
following parts measures are proposed for defending the city against its inhabitants, who are first and
foremost the creators of those values. In order to build the structures for this purpose, the authentic
values of the city are being impaired, and site enlisted at the World Heritage List is being treated in a
way totally out of keeping with its universal characteristics.
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Damage Assessment Report on Old City (Suriçi) of Diyarbakir

Paragraph 7:
As “Stated in Article 3.15 of the KAIPD and identified in the implementary development plan...”
urban design projects in the planning to be prepared by the Ministry of Environment and Urbanization
are annexes of this plan. In two articles 3.31.1 and 3.31.2, it is said, first, that “the size, situation and
function of buildings outside of the registered parcels may be decided without needing any plan
revisions,” and secondly, that “The implementation of all the closed and open spaces designated by the
Ministry (CSB) will be according to the Urban Design Project annexed to the plan revision.” Thus,
projects which do not even exist at the moment, and have not been through any approval process, are
to be considered annexes to this revision plan. This means a totally unsupervised set of projects to be
implemented in Sur, a situation totally contrary to any planning principles.
Paragraph 15:
The fact, that no decisions at higher scale in the KAIPD regarding the “Urban Design Projects” have
been taken, leads to the impairment of the integrity of the revision plan. Furthermore, it will result to
the intervention on the traditional urban structure without to be binded to the KAPID.
Paragraph 16:
In the KAIPD explanatory report, as a justification for the widening of and new streets, it is stated that
"streets to allow the passage of vehicles for security and services, fire engines and ambulances are not
available.” However, in the Revised Urban Conservation Plan (KAIPD) it is obviously seen that the
new streets serve only the "Security Service Areas" foreseen in the plan revision. Moreover, in an
environment like Suriçi, with an ancient urban fabric, public services such as firefighting or
ambulatory services could very well be met by modern technological innovations; instead, what is
being done in the KAIPD decisions is to try to legitimize demolitions clearly in conflict with
conservation principles, by putting forward certain public needs.

Map 6: Revised Suriçi Urban Conservation Plan from 2012

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Map 7: Revised Suriçi Urban Conservation Plan; December 2016

Revived harmful projects in Suriçi and Tigris Valley
1. Urban renewal and the Tigris Valley Project:
October 22, 2012 Suriçi has been declared as “area under hazard risk” according to the Law on
Transformation of Areas under Disaster Risk (numbered with 6306) with a decision of the Turkish
Minister Cabinet. By this way, Suriçi was included in the areas to undergo “urban renewal”. In order to
provide housing for the residents of the buildings to be demolished as part of this process of urban
renewal, it was decided to create a reserve housing area. Studies were undertaken and the Tigris Valley
was chosen as the reserve housing area.
However, the fact that the execution of the “urban renewal” plan in Suriçi would harm the
Urban Conservation Area and the unique cultural fabric of the city, as well as considerations
regarding the UNESCO World Heritage candidacy of Diyarbakir Fortress (city walls) and
Hevsel Gardens Cultural Landscape, the actors of the city decided to cancel the Tigris Valley
project. The Diyarbakir Metropolitan Municipality and the Chamber or Architects of
Diyarbakir took the designation of the Tigris Valley as a reserve building area to court, and
obtained an annulment of the decision. In the same context, the urban renewal project was
suspended, thanks to the efforts of the Site Management and various civil societal
organizations.
But, in the aftermath of the demolitions and the expropriation of the land, both the urban
renewal project and the Tigris Valley Project were once more put into effect. The first stage of
the Tigris Valley Project has started at and right next to the historical Ten Arches Bridge, which
is part of the World Heritage area. The Project includes the building of a mosque, a car park
and restaurants in the buffer zone adjacent to World Heritage area.

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Photo 23: Work being conducted at the Ten Arches Bridge, part of the Diyarbakir World Heritage
Cultural Landscape; March 26, 2017

Photo 24: Tigris Valley Project first stage; May 22, 2017
2. Construction of new houses
Reinforced concrete housing, which in complete violation with the historical old city fabric and the
traditional Diyarbakir houses, is being built in areas which have been erased. These houses clearly
violate norms of the Urban Conservation Plan; the mass volume of the buildings, the dimensions of the
courtyards and walls do not fit with the street and parcel sizes. Instead of basalt blocks, which is the
traditional building material in the city, thin slabs of basalt are being used to cover the concrete walls.
The exterior appearance of the buildings has nothing to do with the traditional street view of
Diyarbakir. Moreover, the forced eviction of the inhabitants, the demolition of thousands of houses and
the expropriation clearly indicate that the true owners of Sur will never be allowed to return to their
homes again. But who, then, will be living in these new houses? It is obvious that the aim is to
transform the political and demographic structure.
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Photo 25: New houses being built in the old city Suriçi

Photo 26: In spite of the stipulation by the conservation Plan, that concrete houses with a deceptive
thin stone facing are not to be allowed, the picture shows new reinforced concrete houses coated with
basaltic slabs.
3. The Inner Fortress recreational area project
In 2000 a project for area of the citadel (Inner Fortress), today element of the World Heritage Site, was
approved as a cultural and touristic area. It was planned that in the first stage of the project, the part of
the Inner Fortress encircled by walls from the Artuklu (medieval) period would be a museum area and
that in the second stage the part encircled by Ottoman walls would be cleared of buildings lacking of
quality and turned into an Archaeological Park including the Amida (ancient name of Diyarbakir)
Tumulus, with the condition of laying bare (excavating) of constructions and layers under earth. This
functionalization of the area according to the plan was included in the UNESCO candidacy folder as
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well as was highlighted in the Site Management Plan. What we observe nowadays is that in the area of
the second stage of the project all buildings of low quality have been removed and a registered
building has been de-registered and then immediately demolished. The cleared space has been
designed as a modern park. Meanwhile with heavy equipment excavations have been conducted and
many trees with extensive roots have been planted. All of these interventions have the high probability
of damaging the archaeological structures under the earth.

Photo 27: View at the registered building next to the Ickale Mosque, Inner Castle. After deregistration
it has been demolished

Photo 28: The modern park in the Inner Fortress. The registered building next to the mosque (see
Photo 27) has been removed completely.

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CONCLUSION
Suriçi has been inhabited uninterruptedly for eight millennia and was the center of production
and the commercial life of the greater region. It was the place where traditional products have been
brought from rural areas and sold as well as being the center of artisanal production of jewelery,
copper working, forging and silk weaving. Today it is still one of the most intensive commercial areas
in the city. Suriçi is the collective memory of Diyarbakir. In the 1990’s, a large number of people fled
to Suriçi due to the destruction of numerous Kurdish villages. From 2000 on new attitudes, approaches
and an urban life style was started to be established. At the same time the consciousness and interest
for the conservation of cultural heritage was on the rise in Suriçi and this reactivated the socioeconomic and cultural life. Municipalities, public institutions, NGOs and private entrepreneurs
invested in the restoration and functionalization of cultural heritage sites. The awareness for preserving
the historical city of Suriçi achieved its peak when the fortress and Hevsel Gardens have been enlisted
as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2015.
The Site Management Plan together with the Urban Conservation Plan revised in 2012 have
been submitted to UNESCO World Heritage Committee for approval, but they never have been put
into practice. We also have doubts that the December 2016 revision of the Urban Conservation Plan,
intended to legitimize the damage that has been done to the old city, has ever been submitted to
UNESCO.
From the owners of propriety in Suriçi the propriety rights and the decision to choose freely the
residency have been taken forcibly. Damage assessment of the registered constructions and area
damaged and destroyed as a result of the armed conflict and following demolition have not been
conducted based on the principle of participation with no representatives of the people living in Suriçi,
scientists, civil society organizations, the Site Management Department and municipal experts. The
same approach was practiced for the planning of the affected area and decisions have been taken in a
highly centralized manner.
With the latest armed conflict and subsequent demolition, the original street fabric and the
integrity of the insula-parcel integrity have been irreparably lost. The forced exodus and the following
expropriation decision by the Turkish government, leads to the eradication of the urban memory
composed with the accumulation over thousands of years, change of propriety and the change the
demographic structure and interrupt the cultural continuity.

Urgent Measures necessary for Suriçi
1. Ground-based and aerial land surveys, with up to date technology, should be conducted in
the area of Suriçi, in order to collect reliable data.
2. The “urgent expropriation decision” should be immediately canceled. The several millennialong and uninterrupted human settlement of Suriçi should be respected and restored, by conserving the
demographic structure through ensuring the return of the old city dwellers, who are the current
transmitters of the cultural accumulation, and undertaking human-oriented measures to raise the living
standards.
3. The implementation of the strategic Site Management Plan, which was designed to conserve
the tangible and intangible cultural heritage and approved by UNESCO World Heritage Committee.
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4. The Suriçi Urban Conservation Plan adopted in 2012 should be put back into effect. This
plan is based on cadastral maps from 1952 and was drawn up with the intention of recovering the
original physical structure of Sur, respecting the original street fabric, insula and parcel dimensions,
and in this process rehabilitating and transforming, in situ, low-level urban growth, and reducing traffic
and other intensity. By conserving the traditional street fabric, insula and parcel dimensions, it will be
possible to reconstruct the traditional urban plan which existed since the since Roman period, in the
areas which have been totally or partially demolished.
5. Human-oriented rehabilitation plans should be elaborated for the remaining part of Suriçi,
rather than any kind of “Urban Renewal Projects.”
6. Strong measures should be undertaken for the re-vitalization of the socio-economic and
cultural life of the city.

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