Counter Forum: “What Is It That UNESCO Protects?!”

Click to read the article in Turkish

On grounds of lacking trust in the discourse of World Heritage Committee (WHC) of UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) on ‘’ common heritage’’ , ‘’ impartiality’’ and ‘’protection’’, a counter forum with the motto “What is it that UNESCO protects?!” is being held against  the 40th ordinary session of the Committee  which will be held in Istanbul  from July 10 to 20, 2016.

The Forum will be held on July 16, 2016 in the Union of Chambers of Turkish Engineers and Architects - UCTEA Chamber of Architects Istanbul Metropolitan Branch.

The Counter Forum criticizes the Republic of Turkey as the host of the 40th session of WHC which and holds its government “responsible for the destruction of natural and cultural heritage -whether or not included in the World Heritage List- through political decisions, warfare, and aggressive capitalist stance”.

In this sense, the forum argues that “the cultural essence of [our] habitats cannot be protected by governments and institutions formed by them. It can be protected only in solidarity with local inhabitants personally so as to be conveyed to future generations as heritage” and calls on “all individuals, and institutions who want to protect life, history, and cultural memory to knit the solidarity against wars and capitalist aggression, against governments who carry these aggressions out, and against bodies like UNESCO who absolve the governments” and “to discuss together how to effectively protect natural, historical, and cultural entities”.

Sulukule, Hasankeyf, Diyarbakır

The counter forum has listed the topics which will not be discussed in the WHC Session as follows:

* “Although the 40th session of the WHC will be held in Istanbul which has been in the World Heritage List with its historic city center for the last 31 years, the case of plundering its historical tissue in the name of capitalist accumulation through the pressure of tourism, and construction will not be discussed.

* “The facts, inter alia, that the historical neighborhood Süleymaniye has been stripped of its soul and historical tissue by the urban renewal project, that ages old Istanbul neighborhoods such as Sulukule, Tokludede have been razed to the ground and turned into the hands of developers, that  unique cultural values have been lost, that forest, wetland and marine ecosytems have been plundered and destroyed by ‘’mega-insane’’ projects, will not even come into question”.

* “The destruction through warfare in the Sur district, where the buffer zone of the cultural landscape formed by Diyarbakir castle and Hevsel gardens, one of the World Heritage Sites since 2015, with its cultural assets as the Kursunlu Mosque, Four-pillared minaret, numerous churches, and centuries old residential areas, will not be mentioned”.

* It has also been reminded that “WHC UNESCO maintains its existence through financial sources granted by governments while keeping its silence and indifference towards demolitions and destructions taking place in heritage areas. UNESCO has honored the local official , the mayor of the big city of Istanbul, who has condoned and ignored the land reclamation of 1 million square meters of Yenikapı where 8500 years old history of the city has been revealed, with a UNESCO certificate as well as the UNESCO Special Medal for the 70th anniversary of the organization ‘’ inrecognition of his personal contribution to the conservation of cultural heritage’

Click here to go to the website of the Counter Forum (NV/DG)