Students halt construction at Istanbul University

İdris Emen ISTANBUL - Radikal

Istanbul University students filed a complaint that construction work in the campus was being conducted without the supervision of an archaeologist. Hürriyet photo

A construction project at Istanbul University’s main campus in Beyazıt has been halted, after students filed a complaint that the work was being done without the supervision of an archaeologist. 

The Istanbul University administration had applied to the Istanbul Cultural and Natural Heritage Preservation Board, Number 4, on March 27, 2013 for the reinforcement of its Science Department building against earthquakes. The building is registered as a historical artifact. The Board approved the university’s reinforcement project, and construction work began after this approval.

According to the Reconstruction Plan for Protection, based on a 1/1000 scale, the science building is in a second degree protection zone and any work in the building should be conducted under the supervision of an archeologist. However, while excavation work was being done, no archeologist from the museum was assigned, prompting the department’s students to intervene. 

The students examined pieces of ceramic and a water pipe they found during the excavation, and after that they filed an application to the board to stop the construction. Upon the students’ application, experts from Istanbul Archeology Museum inspected the construction site and demanded that work be stopped. The construction work will or will not continue according to the findings of the inspection. 

“The first rule taught to us was that any kind of work should be done under the supervision of an archeologist in a protected zone. This situation was just the opposite,” said one of the students, Cenk Yürükoğulları.