Resilience in intentionally destroyed historic settlements: An examination on Kirkuk Citadel and the old town of Van

F Duygu Saban,Mustafa Mokhtar,Tuba Akar

doi:10.47818/drarch.2021.v2i3027

Abstract

Armed conflict is considered a major risk for cultural heritage since the Second World War and guidelines are prepared by international organizations such as UNESCO and ICCROM on risk management and protection of cultural heritage in conflict-affected areas. However, the main concerns are reducing risks prior to the armed conflict by identifying, analyzing, evaluating, treating and monitoring risks and managing them before the risk occurs. The literature is quite narrow in respect to the ways of protecting cultural heritage and sustaining life for both buildings and people in intentionally destroyed historic settlements. Within this context, this study aims to raise the question on how to manage change in the intentionally destroyed historic settlements and how to strengthen resilience in conflict-affected areas. In order to achieve this aim, an examination on two case studies, Kirkuk Citadel and the Old Town of Van, which were both intentionally destroyed as a result of armed conflict is made using comparative analysis method. The cases are chosen to represent different time periods, scales and types of destruction. Depending on the international law and guidelines, the study tries to understand the impact of armed conflict on the historic settlements embracing tangible and intangible cultural heritage, types of risks that threaten them and the ways to strengthen resilience in such areas. It is revealed as a result of the study that for both case study areas, being in the tentative list of UNESCO World Heritage is seen a primary step to be internationally recognized and to claim help for future actions aiming to reduce risks. Nevertheless, it can be argued that strategies have to be developed depending on the size and level of destruction, and the level of intervention to preserve and to rehabilitate life in such historic settlements, as each intentionally destroyed historic settlement has unique cultural, political and economic characteristics.

Highlights

Armed conflict and the protection of cultural heritage against hazards thereof constitutes a worldwide problem since the end of the 19th century, which has been treated in a large scale since the Second World War, destruction of cultural heritage in former Yugoslavia, Syria, Mali and Iraq in the last decades raised new discussions
Keane (2004, pp. 6-7) claims that the following 1907 Hague Regulations concerning the Laws and Customs of War on Land expanded the legal protection of cultural heritage, included the term historic monuments to Article 27 and that International Military Tribunal Sitting in Nuremberg, Germany in 1945-1946 marked the beginning of the customary protection of cultural property
The 1954 Hague Convention1 (Url-1) recognizes that cultural property has suffered grave damage during recent armed conflicts and that, by reason of the developments in the technique of warfare, it is in increasing danger of destruction, and states that damage to cultural property belonging to any people whatsoever means damage to the cultural heritage of all mankind, since each people makes its contribution to the culture of the world and that cultural heritage should receive international protection

Summary

Introduction

Armed conflict and the protection of cultural heritage against hazards thereof constitutes a worldwide problem since the end of the 19th century, which has been treated in a large scale since the Second World War, destruction of cultural heritage in former Yugoslavia, Syria, Mali and Iraq in the last decades raised new discussions. The failure of protecting cultural properties in Europe during the First and the Second World Wars, despite The Hague Regulations, resulted in organizing a special convention for the protection of cultural property in the event of armed conflict in Hague. The 1954 Hague Convention (Url-1) recognizes that cultural property has suffered grave damage during recent armed conflicts and that, by reason of the developments in the technique of warfare, it is in increasing danger of destruction, and states that damage to cultural property belonging to any people whatsoever means damage to the cultural heritage of all mankind, since each people makes its contribution to the culture of the world and that cultural heritage should receive international protection

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Conclusion