World Heritage List: Unesco Delegation To Arrive In Istanbul

PARIS - A delegation from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization`s (UNESCO) World Heritage Committee will pay a visit to Istanbul in the second week of May.
The delegation will observe all corners of Istanbul and hold talks with Turkish authorities. It will then prepare a report that would either keep Istanbul in the list of World Heritage sites or take it out .
The report will be submitted to the committee`s meeting that will take place in Quebec, Canada, between July 2nd and 10th.
The World Heritage Committee had discussed the situation in Istanbul at its meeting in Vilnius, Lithuania, two years ago. It had proposed certain measures to be taken by Istanbul city and granted a timeframe until 2008 to remedy all deficiencies.
Istanbul`s historical fields were included into the list of World Heritage sites in 1985.
The possibility of taking Istanbul out of the World Heritage list had come up due to concerns on provincial development and the preservation of protected areas.
(SOL-ULG)