The Istanbul Governor's Office banned the Ramadan activities of the IMM in Sultanahmet Square. The Ministry also stated that the Sultanahmet area is a historical area. Speaking to Cumhuriyet on the subject, IMM Sözcüsü Murat Ongun said, "If such a decision has been taken, and our President also finds this decision to be correct, we are in favor of the equal implementation of this decision. Finally, a statement regarding the aforementioned news came from the Governor's Office.
For years, the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IMM) was not allowed for the Ramadan events held by the AKP in Sultanahmet Square. Istanbul Governor's Office prevented IMM from holding Ramadan events in Sultanahmet Square.
IMM Secretary General, Can Akın Çağlar, sent an information letter to the Governorship of Istanbul on the activities that are planned to last a month for Ramadan on 23 March.
According to the news of BirGün; In the aforementioned article, events to be held in Sultanahmet Square, Yenikapı Event Area, Maltepe Orhangazi City Park and 36 districts were included. The Governorship of Istanbul conveyed the information to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. The Ministry, on the other hand, stated that the Sultanahmet Square area is a historical area.
FIRST STATEMENT FROM IMM
The first statement came from the IMM regarding the said decision.
Speaking to Cumhuriyet, İBB Sözcüsü Murat Ongun said, “Istanbul Governor's Office informs us about this, but this is the practice of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. We became aware of this last week. We don't see anything wrong here, frankly. Our president said the same thing. This is a decision in the sense of reducing the number of activities related to Cultural Heritage in the precious areas of Istanbul and leaving those areas a little more comfortable. The decision of the Ministry of Culture on this matter has also been adopted by the IMM and our President. Our president thinks so too.”
“THE RULE MUST BE APPLICABLE TO EVERYONE”
Underlining that the decision should be applied equally for everyone, Ongun said, “We are saying this here. If such a decision has been taken, and our President also finds this decision to be correct, we are in favor of the equal implementation of this decision. In other words, we are in favor of it being valid for everyone, not just İBB. For example, there is no problem if Fatih Municipality does not allow any activity in Sultanahmet Square. Our President also finds this decision taken by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism logical and correct. In practice, we want this to be a rule that applies to everyone. "We basically have no problem with this decision if it's applied in a disciplined way and equally to everyone."
'SULTANAHMET SQUARE' RESPONSE FROM THE GOVERNOR OF ISTANBUL
After the relevant decision became the agenda, a statement on the subject came from the Istanbul Governor's Office.
In the statement made by the Governor's Office, “Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality is planning to hold Ramadan events in Sultanahmet Square between April 2 and May 2, 2022; In this context, it has been stated that stands and resting areas will be established for concerts, talks, theater activities, workshops, food and handicraft products to be exhibited, and it has been requested to take necessary security measures during these events. On the other hand, a request was made by the Turkish Religious Foundation to organize a 'Book and Culture Fair' in Sultanahmet Square during the month of Ramadan. Due to the fact that the subject is within the scope of duty and jurisdiction of the Cultural Heritage Preservation Regional Board, both requests were made by our Governor's Office; It has been conveyed to the Istanbul Cultural Heritage Preservation Regional Board No. 4”.
The rest of the explanation is as follows:
“Responding to this, in the response letter received from the Istanbul Regional Board for the Protection of Cultural Heritage No. 4; 'With the decision numbered 26.02.2020 taken by the Board on 7346, such activities requested to be held in Sultanahmet Square; 'Sultanahmet Square' is located in the World Cultural Heritage area, stands and stages to be established around the square adversely affect the visibility and perception of the monuments registered as the 1st Group cultural property to be protected, narrowing the pedestrian passage in the historical squares and restricting the pedestrian access to the cultural properties around the square. It was reported that it was decided that it was not valid, therefore both requests could not be evaluated. The reply letter sent to our Governor's Office has been forwarded to the requesting Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality and the Turkish Religious Foundation, and there is no prohibition decision taken by our Governor's Office.”
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