Works to relocate historical mosque in Hasankeyf continue

BATMAN – Demirören News Agency

Works to relocate the last section of the 610-year-old Eyyubi Mosque (or Kızlar Mosque) in southeastern Turkey to its new site have started.

The relocation is taking place to prevent the historical mosque from flooding when a new dam opens in the Hasankeyf district of the Batman province.

As part of the relocation works, some buildings located on the road through which the last section of the mosque, weighing 2,500 tons, will be transported have been demolished.

The other three parts of the ancient mosque were previously transported to the new Hasankeyf Culture Park above the water line.

“Works are continuing for the artifacts not to be damaged due to the [flood] waters. The ancient artifacts will come together in the [Hasankeyf] Culture Park near the new residential area,” said Hasankeyf Mayor Abdulvahap Kusen.

The ancient town of Hasankeyf will soon be submerged by the floodwaters of Turkey’s fourth biggest dam, Ilısu. Accordingly, authorities are moving the town’s historical artifacts. Critics opposing the dam’s construction, however, have said the dam will destroy a history spanning centuries.

Following a two-kilometer transportation of the 650-year-old Zeynel Bey Shrine to the Hasankeyf New Cultural Park Field in 2017, works have been continuing for the transportation of the other historical artifacts and the protection of the immobile ones in their place.

The transportation process has already been completed for a number of artifacts including Zeynel Bey Shrine, İmam Abdullah Zaviye (a small Islamic monastery), Artuklu Bath, and Orta Kapı.

Hasankeyf, 32 kilometers southeast of the provincial capital Batman, was declared a conservation area in 1981.

There are nearly 6,000 caves around the town that contain the remnants of Christian and Muslim worship, as well as a Byzantine fortress.