Hi all,
This is an urgent call for acting against the removal of Istanbul from the UNESCO "World Heritage List".
UNESCO proposes the suspension of the Halic (Golden Horn) Metro Bridge and the Road Tunnel (not the Marmaray which is a rail tunnel) construction as important conditions for securing the city’s position in the World Heritage List. These projects will cause an increased use of motor vehicles in the Historical Peninsula and are against the suggestions of the Transport Master Plan.
The decisions made by local and central authorities are not only against national and international law, but they are also not legitimate as they are not accepted/approved by the public!
Please go to http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/istanbul-sos.html to support this cause.
More information is available on http://istanbulsos.wordpress.com/
Thanks in advance.
Eda
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Istanbul, which is listed as one of the 890 World Heritage Sites for its outstanding universal values and has been awarded as the 2010 European Capital of Culture, is now under the threat of being completely removed from the World Heritage List.
The World Heritage Committee will come to a decision about Istanbul’s situation at their annual meeting on 25 July-3 August 2010 and unless good progress is achieved on the issues below, which have been on the agenda since 2003 and repeated on June 2010 Draft Decision of World Heritage Committee, UNESCO will first change Istanbul’s situation to the “World Heritage in Danger” and will dismiss the city from the World Heritage List in 2011.
The conditions are:
1. Abandon the Halic (Golden Horn) Metro Bridge project,
2. Stop the implementations of Regeneration Law 5366,
3. Share information about the restoration projects of the Historic City walls,
4. Abandon the tunnel project which would let 75.000 vehicles into the Historic Peninsula everyday,
5. Save the wooden houses,
6. Complete the Site Management Plan for the protection of the Historic Peninsula.
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Eda Beyazit
School of Geography and the Environment
Transport Studies Unit
St Anne's College, University of Oxford
http://www.geog.ox.ac.uk/graduate/research/ebeyazit.html
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