MEDİNE MAMEDOĞLU

Amed- On December 2, 2015, clashes broke out in the Sur district of Amed (Turkish: Diyarbakır), and shortly after a 24-hour curfew was declared in the district. The curfew was partially lifted in the two neighborhoods of Sur. On March 21, 2016, an “urgent expropriation” decision was taken by the Turkish cabinet for Fatihpaşa, Hasırlı, Dabanoğlu and Savaş Neighborhoods of Sur, being listed as a World Heritage Site in 2015 by UNESCO. After the decision, 24,000 people living in these neighborhoods were forcibly displaced.

Destruction has continued for 6 years

After the “Urgent Expropriation” order, the streets of Sur were closed with police barriers. As the partial curfew has been imposed in the two neighborhoods since 2016, new so-called “Modern Houses” were built in place of the demolished houses. The two-story houses are claimed to be built in accordance with Diyarbakır's architecture with basalt stones brought from other cities. In addition to the houses, restaurants, boutique hotels, and entertainment centers that have been built in the district and these buildings are described as “Nazi ghettos” by the architects.

Owners of properties have been victimized

As the buildings look like prisons, they are totally different from the old houses of Sur. The new houses have been sold on a website now and their prices vary between 750-800 thousand Turkish Lira. But the received reports claim that owners of the properties have been victimized and debited by the ministry. Some of the citizens refused to take the keys of their houses for being victimized.

Chamber of City Planners Diyarbakır Branch Co-chair Berivan Güneş spoke to our news agency about the process in the district, where the historic and sociocultural structure was destroyed after the clashes.

“UNESCO keeps silent”

Berivan Güneş told us that they called on UNESCO many times to protect Sur. “Sur was added to UNESCO World Heritage Site List in July, 2015. But no one did anything for the district destroyed after the clashes. UNESCO has kept silent against the destruction of the district. A delegation consisting of members of the UNESCO and TMMOB (Union of Chambers of Turkish Engineers and Architects) conducted an investigation in Dabanoğlu, Fatihpaşa, Savaş, and Hasırlı neighborhoods on January 17, 2019. After the investigation, a report was prepared about the destruction in the neighborhoods.”

“Registered and historic houses were pulled down”

Berivan Güneş underlined the investigation was carried out after the houses had been pulled down and she told us that news houses look like Nazi ghettos were built in the places of historic and registered houses. “When we look at the newly built houses, we see that there is an effort to build a ‘modern’ city against the authentic urban texture of Suriçi. Many historic and registered buildings were pulled down. Those who claimed that Sur would be rebuilt like Toledo built such buildings.”

“Newly built houses contradict the district’s traditional architectural texture”

Berivan Güneş continued to talk as follows; “Newly built houses contradict the district’s traditional architectural texture. These practices aiming to change and transform the physical and socio-cultural structure have been carried out to destroy the thousands of years old history of Sur. After four years, we managed to enter the area but we saw that nothing was left from the old Sur. The new houses haven’t been given to the owners of the properties. And the owners cannot afford to buy the new houses due to their expensive prices.”