Changing Approaches of the 1972 Convention’s Stake- holders. Historic Areas of Istanbul, Türkiye

Abstract

Historic Areas of Istanbul was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1985. Following its declaration as a world heritage site (WHS), the number of the site’s stakeholders increased on legal base. The State Party, Türkiye, has become promiser for providing up-to-date information concerning the site at regular intervals, i.e. state of conservation reports, to international stakeholders. By this way, all discussions that already existing in media and academia concerning the WHS and its well-known components, including the Golden Horn and Hagia Sophia, have moved from national scale to international level. This ‘supranational’ multi-stakeholder approach has put pressure on interventions from time to time. This paper aims to present the impacts and limitations of the Convention as an international regulation on decision-making process of national stakeholders in the context of urban historic centers. The process after being inscribed on the List will be assessed from the stakeholders’ perspective.