ALLIANOI ABOUT TO BE SACRIFICED….

It is reported that workers employed by the Turkish State Waterworks Directorate have started preparing to fill an outstanding Roman archaeological site with sand before submerging it under the planned reservoir behind the Yortanli irrigation dam whose effective life-span is not expected to exceed 50 years... The Turkish NGO "Allianoi Initiative" led by Professor Ahmet Yaraş, claim to have witnessed the "burying" of Allianoi: huge cranes and dump trucks, piles of sand, dismantled protective structures ... with only the tops of Allianoi's excavated walls and columns can be seen poking through as the site is being buried under sand. In response, Europa Nostra immediately wrote protests to leading Turkish political figures - the President, Prime Minister, Minister of Culture and Tourism and Minister in charge of EU Affairs - to save th e site of Allianoi, located near Bergama in western Turkey. They have also duly informed the European Commission, the European Parliament, the Council of Europe and UNESCO of our plea. Click here for more information.