The file regarding the Iznik district of Bursa, sent by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism for the permanent candidacy of UNESCO World Heritage, was accepted by UNESCO as complete with its content and format. After the process that will continue with the file examination, field visits and report examinations of UNESCO's advisory body ICOMOS experts, whether Iznik is included in the World Heritage List or not will be announced at the committee meeting to be held in June 2024.
Bursa Metropolitan Municipality continues to reap the fruits of its efforts to keep the historical and cultural heritage alive and transfer it to future generations and to introduce these values to the world. As it will be remembered; With the efforts of the Metropolitan Municipality, Bursa was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List with the Khans Area, Sultan Complexes and Cumalıkızık in 2014, thus an important step was taken for the promotion of the city in the international arena. Not satisfied with this, the Metropolitan Municipality, which turned the city into an open-air museum with 'restorations', also took an important step in the promotion of intangible cultural values. Bursa, which managed to be included in the UNESCO Creative Cities Network in the field of craft and folk arts, in which 'tile and Bursa silk are at the forefront', became a member of the UNESCO Learning Cities Global Network.
Turkey's only candidate Iznik
Iznik was included in the World Heritage Tentative List in 2014, as it is a unique historical city that carries the tangible and intangible values of civilizations to the present day with its historical features. In order to carry out permanent candidacy studies, Iznik Area Presidency was established within the Metropolitan Municipality in 2016. The management plan prepared by the Iznik Site Presidency was approved by the Coordination and Supervision Board in May 2022 and entered into force. Iznik's candidacy file, prepared in accordance with the UNESCO implementation guide, was submitted to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism in August 2022. The management plan and candidacy file, which was completed by the Iznik Site Presidency in a short time like 1 year, was deemed worthy of being a candidate for the permanent list of UNESCO in the 'evaluation made by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism'. The Ministry sent only the permanent candidacy file of Iznik from Turkey to the UNESCO World Heritage Center on September 19, 2022.
Eyes on UNESCO
While the process of declaring Iznik a world heritage site continues, all eyes are now on UNESCO. A long-term Iznik work has started at UNESCO, which has accepted Turkey's Iznik File as complete in terms of content and format. The Iznik file was submitted to the International Council of Monuments and Sites, the advisory body of UNESCO, to be examined and evaluated. Experts assigned from ICOMOS will make field visits between July and September 2023 to examine the field managements regarding the conservation status of the sites presented in the file. Between October and November 2023, ICOMOS experts will request additional information about the sections in the file that they do not consider sufficient. In December 2023, ICOMOS will notify the UNESCO headquarters of its decision regarding the file. In June 2024, the UNESCO World Heritage Center will review all these documents and the ICOMOS report and announce its decision on Iznik at the UNESCO World Heritage Committee Meeting.
“We follow closely”
Metropolitan Mayor Alinur Aktaş emphasized that with its 8500-year-old archaeological sites and 2500-year-old urban settlement, Bursa is an ancient city that hosted Bithynia, Byzantine, Seljuk and Ottoman civilizations. Stating that they are doing all the necessary work to introduce Bursa to the world in the best way, Mayor Aktaş said, “In this context, we managed to enter the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2014 with the Khans Area, sultan's complexes and Cumalıkızık. We managed to be included in the UNESCO Creative Cities Network in the 'craft and folk arts' branch, where Çini and Bursa silk are at the forefront. Not content with success, we continued our initiatives and became a member of the UNESCO Learning Cities Global Network. As Bursa, we aim to constantly improve ourselves. Now a very important step has been taken for Iznik. Our Ministry of Culture and Tourism sent only the file of Iznik from Turkey, as a candidate to the UNESCO World Heritage List, to the UNESCO World Heritage Center, and our file was accepted. We follow the process closely. We hope to share good news with our fellow citizens from Bursa and Iznik in the coming period.”