Diyarbakır’s historic walls get facelift

Diyarbakır - Anatolia News Agency

The restoration of the interior walls is nearing completion, while the remaining restoration work will be put out to tender this year, One of the governor’s office’s problems had been the lack of a proper project.

The ongoing restoration of the eastern province of Diyarbakır’s famous black walls has received a financial boost from the Culture Ministry as part of a project designed to head off emigration by bringing investment to 12 eastern provinces.

The restoration of the six-kilometer-long walls, which feature a number of reliefs and inscriptions, received 20 million Turkish Liras from the Culture Ministry, as well as another 20 million liras from the Places of Attraction project.

Restoration of intetior walls

The restoration of the interior walls is nearing completion, while the remaining restoration work will be put out to tender this year, Diyarbakır Gov. Mustafa Toprak recently told Anatolia news agency.
Toprak said one of the governor’s office’s problems had been the lack of a proper project to tackle the decaying city walls. “This is one of the reasons why we were late in starting the restoration, because it is not possible without a project.”

The Places of Attraction’s 20 million liras will be used for the restoration of bastions, the governor said.
“It is not possible to finish all this work in a year, but we will work for the most urgent parts of the city walls. Projects for four bastions are ready. We will go out to tender for their restoration. We are also preparing projects for some 10 bastions. We will be done with this work this year. We plan to finish work on the bastions and inner city walls in 2013. We will make serious progress thanks to this financial resource,” the governor said.

Noting news stories about the existence of an air conditioner in Dağkapı Bastion, the governor said authorities had removed the device after seeing the news piece.

The restoration began after President Abdullah Gül called for the walls’ protection.

Tourists expect more from Diyarbakır

Tourists want to visit clean and livable places, the governor said, adding that local administrations should be more sensitive about cleaning.

The metropolitan municipality, as well as many of the local administrations in Diyarbakır, is controlled by the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP).

“Just like the air conditioner issue in historic places, tourists should also not see cars that are irregularly parked on the streets of a city,” Toprak said.

“We need to pay attention to everything. Our local administrations will be more sensitive about the cleaning issue; people will not dump in a slapdash manner. In this way, we can attract 1 million tourists [to Diyarbakır], the target number.”