More on Allianoi

As regular readers will notice, we are big fans of the Allianoi Initiative and the man behind it, Prof. Ahmet Yaraş. As we reported earlier in the year, pan-European cultural preservation NGO Europa Nostra singled out the initiative for special recognition in March of this year.

Now Prof. Yaraş and Allianoi spokesman Üstün Reinart are travelling to Lisbon to speak at this year's European Heritage Congress. We again congratulate Prof. Yaraş and the Allianoi Initiative on their success and continued inspiration to all those struggling, like us, to preserve and promote threatened heritage.

-- Helen

Europa Nostra recognizes Allianoi campaigner

Our very first post on Hasankeyf Matters was about the fate of the ancient city of Allianoi, one that we hope very much to prevent Hasankeyf sharing.

Before, during and after the burial and flooding of Allianoi, Associate Professor Ahmet Yaraş was a tireless campaigner for its excavation, preservation and -- now -- commemoration. His work has not gone unnoticed, even though Allianoi has now been consigned to a watery grave, and this year Europa Nostra formally recognized his efforts with an award for dedicated service. Europa Nostra is a pan-European organization representing around 250 NGOs from more than 50 countries and describes itself as the "voice of cultural heritage in Europe."

As the jury noted, “the long lasting public campaign to save this major heritage complex from oblivion represents a powerful example to the world of how authorities should deal with their national cultural heritage, and thus the Initiative highly deserves to be recognised by this award.”

Dr. Yaraş in Allianoi (photo: Hakan Cengiz Yazar)

Dr. Yaraş previously wrote a moving piece on the loss of the site to which he had dedicated his professional life, and which had only begun to offer up its secrets. Titled I’m ashamed of what I see, we include a brief extract below.*

In an effort to save itself, the State Waterworks Authority (DSİ) is offering tender after tender;  
Concerned about votes, politicians are flashing smiles on all sides;
In an illegal protest, the kids are throwing themselves in chains;  
The lawyers are still seeking law in the courts of this country;  
I am watching the place I excavated with my fingernails and to which I dedicated the best 12 years of my life being destroyed.  
Scientific ethics...  
Modernity...  
Democracy...  
Between the cries of yes / no
 an affront to humanity... / a butchery of history...  
My heart aches...  
I’m ashamed of what I am witnessing. 

We warmly congratulate Dr. Yaraş on his achievement, and on his continued efforts to ensure that while Allianoi is gone, it is not forgotten.

--Helen

* You can read the full translation of the piece here and the Turkish original here.

In pursuit of Allianoi…

Hasankeyf is not the first -- and sadly will not be the last -- historical monument in Turkey to be threatened with inundation by dam projects. Past victims include Zeugma (Commagene), many mosaics from which have been relocated to a museum in nearby Gaziantep, and Allianoi.

statue from the baths at Allianoi

In a talk sponsored by the Cultural Awareness Foundation, Assoc. Prof. Ahmet Yaraş of Trakya University addressed a packed auditorium in Istanbul to share details of the archaeological finds at this ancient spa settlement -- and the subsequent battle to protect the significant site from flooding by a nearby irrigation dam.

Exhibitions, a documentary (which the national TV station ultimately declined to screen), protests, court cases… No avenue was left unexplored, but ultimately efforts proved futile and excavations at the site, no more than 20 percent of which had been explored, were sealed with cement, backfilled with construction sand and covered by the dam’s waters. Over a year later, the dam has filled but infrastructure for the related irrigation system (to be privatized upon completion) will not be in place for a further two years, according to Yaraş.

While the outlook for threatened sites like Hasankeyf seems still bleaker in the face of Allianoi’s fate, one lesson to be learned from endeavors to save the ancient spa is the need for coordinated efforts to document, publicize and record threatened pieces of cultural heritage. Not just in an attempt to preserve or save them, but also in order that -- whatever their fate -- they not be forgotten.

--Helen