Sur Not Discussed in UNESCO Meeting

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UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) World Heritage Committee (WHC) in its 40th meeting has not opened the decision draft regarding the Sur district of Diyarbakır which is on the World Heritage List to discussion of members at all and passed it the way it way.

In the meeting, reports on 48 regions which are listed as under danger are being discussed. In this context, Sur district of Diyarbakır which has  been included to the list of World Heritage Sites in 2015 and has suffered great destructions due to armed conflicts was also expected to be a topic of discussion in the meeting.

A decision draft was prepared on 27 June in Paris.

Diyarbakır Metropolitan Municipality Committee had been carrying out works since the beginning of the meeting to make the draft on Sur be discussed in the General Assembly as it considered the information in the draft inadequate and deficient.

Yet the decision draft prepared concerning Sur on June 27 in Paris has been approved without being discussed in the meeting.

WHW: Sur not being discussed is unfortunate

World Heritage Watch (WHW) has noted that not having discussed Sur in the meeting was unfortunate and has called on the World Heritage Convention to reconsider its attitude as they would lose their credibility otherwise. (NV/DG)