Following the demolition of thousands of houses along with the furniture inside in the Cevatpaşa, Fatihpaşa, Dabanoğlu, Hasırlı, Cemal Yılmaz and Savaş neighborhoods of the Sur district, the government announced that 44 example residences that reflect the architecture of Amed in basalt stone were to be built in the neighborhoods.

The Environment and Urbanism Ministry and Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality contractor company KİPTAŞ signed a protocol that foresaw 44 buildings over 13 decares of land to be completed until December 31, 2017.

A groundbreaking ceremony was held on January 4, 2017 following the protocol, and the Environment and Urbanism Minister Mehmet Özhaseki participated in the ceremony. Minister Özhaseki spoke at the event and said, “We are implementing a project to revive the Diyarbakır houses once again. The result will be traditional, classical Diyarbakır houses.”

Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım participated in the groundbreaking ceremony via video conference and announced that the project was to be completed within the year and it will cost 60 million Liras.

KİPTAŞ won the bid for the new construction and then turned the job over to subcontractors Artım Construction Project Advisory Co.

CONCRETE BUILDINGS

First six of these buildings, that were supposed to be built with basalt stone and in the style of the architecture of Amed in compliance with the Conservation Development Plan, have been completed this year. But the buildings went against the project bid and were built in concrete, then sided with stone. The ceilings and roofs of the buildings were made out of concrete and basalt was laid on top of them. The buildings have no semblance to the architecture of Sur, but all the appeals by NGOs were ignored by the Environment and Urbanism Provincial Directorate and the Governorate. The Chamber of Architects was not allowed to inspect the buildings despite all their appeals.

CONSTRUCTION HALTED

Diyarbakır Culture, Tourism and Music Association (DİKTUM-DER) and Diyarbakır Promotion, Culture and Solidarity Foundation (DİTAV) met with officials in the Environment and Urbanism Ministry in Ankara and the Amed Chamber of Architects pressed charges, after which the construction was halted.

As the construction was halted for the buildings in Sur with these appeals, it has come to light that new buildings are to be built in stead of the construction with no semblance to the architecture of Amed and a new bid is to be held.

NEIGHBORHOODS STILL BANNED

The access ban announced for the neighborhoods in December 2015 has continued for 22 months now. Officially, the neighborhoods are still under curfew. Civilian entry to the demolished area of Sur is still banned. All streets leading up to the demolished neighborhoods have been cut off with concrete barricades, while police are on duty in the neighborhoods. Civilians who manage to enter the neighborhood to see what happened to their homes are issued a fine of 270 Liras in accordance with the Misdemeanor Law.  Journalists are also still banned from the area.