DİYARBAKIR - The coastline of the Tigris River passing through the Hevsel Gardens, which is on the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage List, is turned into agricultural areas by filling the islets and meanders. Authorities are content to watch the river bed being destroyed.

 

Natural islets formed in the Tigris River passing through the Hevsel Gardens, which are on the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage List, and meanders formed as a result of thousands of years are filled with soil, hundreds of trees growing in natural islets are cut, and new agricultural areas are created. The land expansion work that the property owners have started against the river since last year is being monitored by the authorities. While Diyarbakır Metropolitan Municipality under trustee, Sur Municipality under trustee, Diyarbakır Provincial Directorate of the Ministry of Environment and Urbanization, Provincial Directorate of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism did not take steps to prevent destruction and take action against those responsible, despite the passing of a year, the field owners accelerated their expansion efforts with the arrival of spring.

 

'INVASION IS SPREADING'

 

Stating that the Tigris River was deprived of its status as a river and left unprotected, and therefore the invasion for the purpose of rent began, Zeki Kanay, Member of the Ecology Association, said: “At first, the occupations begin there on the Ten-Eyed Bridge, after the trustee process. Even the eyes of the bridge were occupied for a while. Then they took a step back on the backlash, but this time invasions are spreading on all four sides of the bridge. Large ponds were built in areas where sand was extracted from the sand bed by some businessmen. This means a major intervention in the river bed. Many fish species live in the ecosystem there. There are fish unique to the Tigris River. There are creatures that live both on land and in water. There are insects, butterflies, birds. More than two hundred bird species have been identified in the Tigris River Valley. If the bed of the river is tampered with, trees are cut down, the migration routes of birds and places where they will nest and rest will also be destroyed. In the Tigris River is the Euphrates Tortoise, which is native to the Tigris-Euphrates River. The areas where they will nest are also disappearing and their numbers are decreasing day by day with the destruction of the sand dunes."

 

‘WE MUST LEAVE A HERITAGE TO THE FUTURE’

 

Reminding that Hevsel Gardens and Diyarbakır walls were included in the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage List in 2015, Kanay said: “What does heritage mean? It has come from the past and we need to pass it on to the future. We must leave a legacy for the future. This has to be the simplest approach. Therefore, there should not be the slightest intervention here. Even if it is necessary, it is intervened by consulting and discussing many professions together in a multidisciplinary manner. If necessary, an arrangement or restoration is made. But with the decision of a person, with a signature or without a signature, this area is interfered with. Even if the area is left alone, we are satisfied, because it means the least damage. Even with the smallest intervention, we are destroying the habitat of thousands of animals.”