Ancient History

Description

Open Edition Reproduction –

This image of an 800-year-old minaret with a 400-year-old stork’s nest on top is a bittersweet recollection of a 2014 visit to Hasenkeyf in Eastern Turkiye. Despite much lobbying to have the ancient cave city UNESCO World Heritage listed, in 2020, under the distraction of COVID-19, the Turkish President finalised the construction of a dam on the Tigris River, flooding the township completely and submerging thousands of years of history in a largely Kurdish- occupied area.

This minaret and three other monuments were shifted to higher ground and stand in a new Memorial Park, devoid of their original context. About one third of the population was re-housed across the river, while the remainder were displaced and scattered throughout the region.