How COVID-19 threatens Istanbul's cultural heritage
The novel coronavirus pandemic presents multiple threats to Istanbul's cultural heritage, both decimating tourism and distracting from destructive development projects.
In late April, the news broke that one of Istanbul's historic urban gardens, or bostans, was demolished by the Fatih Municipality under Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).
The bostan in the old city quarter of Yedikule was in fact destroyed over a month ago, while the novel coronavirus outbreak dominated the news following the March 11 announcement of Turkey’s first diagnosed case.
The loss of the garden, which dates back to at least the 18th century, is an indicator that Istanbul's cultural heritage, already under constant threat from development and disastrous restoration projects, faces even greater risks as the pandemic occupies the attention of the city, the hotbed of the coronavirus in Turkey.
“It is the destruction of a heritage site from the Ottoman era by a municipality under the control of the AKP, replacing living cultural heritage from the Ottoman period with recreational garden plots only to appease developers who receive lucrative contracts,” said Aleksandar Shopov, an incoming assistant professor of early modern Ottoman history at Binghamton University who has extensively researched the bostans.
