Etiket 2010 istanbul

News, Etc. Demolition of the historic Gypsy neighborhood, Sulukule, plans to build an underground metro line across the Golden Horn, a hotel construction over the ruins of the Grand Palace of the Byzantine Empire and other similar projects that impair Istanbul’s historical and cultural heritage might cause UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Social and Cultural Organization) to put the city on its list of World Heritage Sites in Danger. During the UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee meeting in Spain, the organization gave Turkey a respite until February 2010 to rectify its position in safeguarding Istanbul’s cultural and social heritage and decided to keep the city on its list of World Heritage Sites until then. Turkey is expected to submit a report to the committee’s next meeting in Argentina on work it is planning to do to protect the historical sites and monuments. This is the third time UNESCO is giving Turkey additional time to take measures so that Istanbul is not transferred to the list of Heritage Sites in Danger. Istanbul was included in the list of World Heritage Sites in 1985 but in 2006 and then in 2008 the Committee considered to take the city out of the list because of Turkey’s failure to protect the city’s historical sites and social characteristics. Feyzullah Ozcan, Istanbul’s deputy governor, who represented Turkey at the meeting in Spain said that the decision was “the best for Turkey at this stage.” “We have not been put on the list of World Heritage Sites in Danger,” he added. To be on UNESCO’s list of World Heritage Sites is a prestigious thing, Ozcan said. “It gives you respectability. But this is a political choice. You can say ‘We do not have to be on that list,’ but this is a decision that belongs to our administration,” he […]