Gelisim News

The common value of all humanity in the wars in the Middle East continues to be irreversibly damaged by cultural heritage.

For example, there are 6 symbolic monuments in the UNESCO World Heritage List of Syria, which are defined as the open-air museum of the Middle East. Aleppo, Damascus, Ancient City of Busra, Castle of Saladin with Krakdes Chevaliers, Castle of Salahadin, Ancient Villages of Northern Syria, Palmira City nicknamed 'The Bride of the Desert', was destroyed as a result of many years of wars in Syria or knowing as in the Temple of Bel in Palmira, was destroyed by bombing. In another UNESCO World Heritage Site, the city of Sanaa in Yemen, which is a cultural asset to be protected, is also being destroyed in the same way.

At this point, Istanbul Gelişim University organized the 5th International Middle East Symposium on ‘Environmental Problems, Culture and Security’.

In the session titled ‘Economic Value of the Cultural Heritage: An Assessment from the Middle East Perspective’, Asst. Prof. Dr. İlknur Türkoğlu from Istanbul Gelisim University stated that wars in the Middle East continued to cause irreversible damage to the cultural heritage of all mankind and added: “In the history of the world, many important civilizations such as Sumerian, Babylonian, Assyrian, and Egyptian were born in the land of Middle East, and  agriculture, mathematics, geometry, art were developed there.”

“EMERGENCY DECISIONS AND MEASURES MUST BE TAKEN”

Stating that The Middle East is rich in terms of cultural assets as well as underground oil, natural gas resources Asst. Prof. Dr. İlknur Türkoğlu continued:

“Years of wars and conflicts continue to damage cultural heritage in countries such as Iraq, Syria, Egypt and Yemen. The decisions taken by international institutions such as UNESCO and the United Nations (UN), which have made international decisions on the protection of cultural assets in wars as a result of the great destruction in the Second World War, are unfortunately not enough. Countries in the region need to urgently come together and take decisions and measures to protect cultural assets”.

At the end, Asst. Prof. Dr. İlknur Türkoğlu said that ‘The cultural value of the cultural heritage itself should be emphasized, not the material value of it. Cultural heritage has no political boundaries, is the common property of all humanity and is not a substitute for it when it is destroyed. It must be found out solutions based on similar events in the World.’