According to Sur residents and workers, the demolition of almost all buildings in Alipaşa neighbourhood is completed and base construction works for new buildings have started.

Speaking to Mezopotamya Haber, co-spokesperson of “No to Demolition in Sur Platform” Büşra Cizrelioğulları recalled that Sur is a historic city and protected area and said: “Although the demolition process in Sur should be carried out on scientific basis we see that no scientific research has been made. There should be experts and archaeologists here. But as we can see the works are carried out with no experts whatsoever.”

“Every meter of Sur contains history. We can’t know what we will see after the demolitions or excavations. Experts and archaeologists should be present here. We call for an immediate end to excavations. Every time they dig a piece of history may surface. The government should be aware of this” she said.

Cizrelioğulları criticised the lack of transparency about the construction plans in Sur and said that nobody knows what kind of buildings are planned in Sur.

The platform appealed to the Turkish authorities several times to let experts examine the area and demanded to get details of the construction plans but they received no answer.

Cizrelioğulları said their right to information is denied by Turkish authorities and added: “We see that they (Turkish officials) are making plans and put them into practice without anybody’s knowledge. We will continue our attempts to find out what is aimed with these new constructions.”

Sur was a scene of intense fighting between Kurdish autonomists and Turkish state forces. After the declaration of self-governance in Sur, Turkish army attacked the neighbourhood on 3 December 2015. The fighting lasted for 3 months and left a part of Sur destroyed.

Even before the fighting ended Turkish state announced plans to rebuild Sur’s old city. Despite the resistance by locals Turkey started the demolition of the buildings last year.