Famous
singer Zülfü Livaneli, Turkey’s goodwill ambassador to the U.N.
cultural agency UNESCO, resigned on May 26, accusing it of hypocrisy in
ignoring the destruction of large parts of a heritage site during
clashes between the Turkish army and the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants.
With
Roman-era basalt walls encircling historic houses, churches, synagogues
and mosques, the city of Diyarbakır’s Sur district was listed as a
UNESCO World Heritage site in July 2015. Weeks later, clashes in the town resumed.
Sur was the site of some of the fiercest fighting and has been under military lockdown since December.
“As
the demolition of history is taking place in Sur, hypocrisy dominated
the [Istanbul] World Humanitarian Summit,” Livaneli, a novelist,
filmmaker, composer and singer said in tendering his resignation from
United Nations cultural agency on May 26, accusing the government of
violating human rights.
“To pontificate on peace while remaining
silent against such violations is a contradiction of the fundamental
ideals of UNESCO,” said Livaneli, who had held the goodwill post to
promote UNESCO values since 1996.
This week’s U.N. humanitarian
summit in Istanbul, billed as the first of its kind and attracting 55
heads of state and government, sought to raise funds and political will
to tackle the worst humanitarian crisis since World War II, with 130
million people displaced by war and natural disasters.
Large
tracts of Sur on the banks of the Tigris river, once home to 24,000
mostly lower-income residents who have all left, have been bulldozed.
Historic monuments bear battle scars.
Authorities have promised to rebuild Sur to reflect its historical importance. They accuse the PKK of storing weapons and harboring fighters in Sur.
Works
including “Bliss” by Livaneli have been translated into at least 37
languages. He is also one of Turkey’s most popular singers.
He
served for three years as a lawmaker in the main opposition Republican
People’s Party (CHP) before quitting in 2005 to protest party’s
“authoritarian” politics.