Istanbul’s conservators are scrambling to protect numerous cultural heritage sites at risk in the wake of Turkey’s worst earthquake in modern history, as they brace for the possibility of even bigger disasters in the city that straddles an active fault. There is.
But efforts to protect the city’s 8,000-year-old treasures were already complicated by the country’s finicky politics, with the opposition-controlled city heritage agency frequently at odds with cultural authorities in President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government.
Istanbul’s Grand Çamlija Mosque is one of about 35,000 registered heritage sites, more than half of which are located in zones most susceptible to earthquakes, says Milas Andrew Lieu, who runs Istanbul. said former museum director Mahir Porat.
A devastating earthquake near the Syrian border in February killed more than 50,000 people and destroyed 500,000 homes. Some 2,000 historic sites, ranging from medieval mosques to Bronze Age settlements, were damaged or destroyed.
Seismologists have warned that it is almost inevitable that Istanbul, with its 16 million inhabitants and vast cultural heritage, will experience an earthquake of similar magnitude within the next 20 years. The North Anatolian Fault runs just 20 kilometers south of the Historic Peninsula, a UNESCO World Heritage Site dotted with palaces, mosques, churches and aqueducts.
Mahir Porat, head of Istanbul’s Milas Heritage Department, said the city has about 35,000 registered heritage sites, more than half of which are located in areas most affected by earthquakes.
“I can’t sleep at night because of the earthquake in Istanbul,” he says. “We are not yet ready. The fundamental problem is the lack of seismic regulations specific to cultural heritage sites. In Istanbul, it is not technically possible to repair so many buildings in time. Therefore, emergency protection for seismic reinforcement is urgently needed.”
I can’t sleep at night because of the earthquake in Istanbul. The problem is the lack of earthquake regulations for heritage sites. It is impossible to repair so many buildings in time
Mahir Polat, City Heritage Office
The Ministry of Culture’s statement pointed to the 2021 update of the government’s disaster response plan, which guided the rescue of cultural heritage sites after the February earthquake, as the cultural heritage framework. “For many years, we have been implementing earthquake preparedness measures in our museums and institutions across the country, especially in Istanbul,” the statement said.
Polat, a former museum director, describes his mission as “triage.” Questions were raised in December when a court ordered the removal of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu from politics for allegedly insulting provincial election officials. The unprecedented ban was widely seen as an effort to curb the popular politician’s potential desire to one day challenge Erdogan. Imamoglu and Polat remain in their posts while the ruling is appealed.
Legacy as a flashpoint
On Sunday, Erdogan, who has ruled Turkey for 20 years, was re-elected after a polarized presidential election. İmamoğlu ran as vice president on the ticket of his losing opponent.
Heritage has become a flashpoint in Turkey’s culture wars, with battle lines being drawn over its most iconic monuments. Election campaigns were no exception. The day before the first vote, Erdogan’s opponent, the centre-left Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, visited the grave of Mustafa Ataturk, the founder of the secular Turkish Republic, and the conservative populist Erdogan He prayed with a thousand people. Hagia Sophia is the largest cathedral in Christendom, built in the 6th century, converted into a mosque during the Ottoman rule, and turned into a museum by Atatürk in 1934. In 2020, President Erdoğan turned Hagia Sophia into a mosque again, ignoring UNESCO’s objections. .
Milas takes an ecumenical approach to conservation and works across the city’s palinsests. The last remaining Byzantine palace, an Armenian church and an Ottoman fortress are among the more than 600 sites Imamoglu has restored since he was elected mayor in 2019.
Last month, the restored Casa Botter, Istanbul’s first Art Nouveau building, built in 1901 by Sultan Abdulhamid II’s Dutch tailor Jan Botter, was opened. The building, decorated with wrought iron flowers and reliefs of Demeter, was abandoned on the main street. He lived in Istiklal for decades. It currently functions as a public art and design center. Tours organized by Milas to foster ties between Istanbul’s residents and their heritage have brought thousands of people to his Casa Botter, which is under restoration.
“In a city with a multicultural heritage, preserving it and making it part of everyday life is the most important way to preserve it,” said Paolo Girardelli, professor of architectural history at Bogazici University in Istanbul. says. “The city’s efforts to reuse sites for cultural purposes are aimed at making heritage sites more public and more visible, with the logic of avoiding all historic sites becoming cafes and hotels. Its commercialization destroys the heritage of cities and contexts.”
Elsewhere along Istiklal, historic buildings have been transformed into shopping malls. “Until recently, there has been a tendency to preserve these places, either by preserving only the facades or by redoing and rebuilding large parts. Botter’s restoration is a good fix,” says Girardelli.
Mr. Porat denounces the “idea of real estate that prioritizes cultural heritage.” He said political tensions with the capital, Ankara, had delayed some of Milas’s efforts, including a two-month delay in obtaining state approval for seismic reinforcement of the underground Basilica Cistern, built by Emperor Justinian in 532 AD. , he said it has stopped completely. The central government also confiscated properties under city control, including Taksim Square and the Genoese-built Galata Tower.
As for the Ministry of Culture, its most important initiatives include a 10-year restoration of Istanbul’s 132-year-old Archaeological Museum complex, which houses an estimated 1.5 million artifacts. This month, the company announced a two-year renovation of the medieval Maiden Tower, a former lighthouse and one of Istanbul’s most beloved symbols.
Culture Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy had warned that the structure was at risk of destruction by storms, let alone earthquakes, but the project still fell prey to Turkey’s cultural dispute.
The restorers, including architect Han Tumeltekin, removed shoddy 20th-century renovations and returned the site to its early 19th-century appearance, while protecting their work from false accusations by government critics that they demolished the towers en masse. Ta.
But Tumertekin was philosophical about the protests, arguing they were due to the passion of the city’s residents to protect their heritage. “There is only one Istanbul in the world,” he said.
