In Istanbul, a race against progress
By Mark Landler The New York Times
TUESDAY, AUGUST 2, 2005
ISTANBUL The dusty pit next to the governor's office here looks like any
other archaeological dig. Workers chip away gingerly at a half-buried stone
wall, carting off the crumbling bricks in a wheelbarrow.
The walls were originally the cellars of houses built more than 70 years
ago in the early years of the Turkish Republic. Beneath them, archaeologists
have uncovered a staircase dating from the Ottoman Empire, which lasted 500
years.
And lurking beneath that is a genuine treasure: a stone arch that forms
part of a cistern from the late Byzantine period, which ended in 1453.
What sets this site apart is that the diggers are only a step ahead of
the bulldozers. Machines will soon tear up this serpentine street in the heart
of Istanbul's old city to put in a station for a new subway line.
"If we find some more important things down there, maybe they'll cancel
the subway," said one of the archaeologists, Oguz Erkan, with the half-hearted
chuckle of someone who knows better.
It doesn't take an archaeologist's training to see the risks of digging a
railway tunnel under one of the world's most ancient cities - a center of both
Islam and Christendom - where remnants of civilizations and empires are piled
on top each other like a stack of history books.
Istanbul, however, is pressing ahead with the construction of the
75-kilometer, or 45-mile, rail system, which will connect the city's European
and Asian halves through a tunnel that runs beneath the Bosporus Straits.
City officials say the $2.6 billion project, known as the Marmaray, is
desperately needed to ease congestion in a metropolis of 10 million.
The two bridges that cross the Bosporus are jammed with traffic, and the
existing subway system, with one line and six stations, is comically
inadequate.
The trouble is that the project's engineers have concluded that the best
route for the tunnel on the European side is beneath the old city, home to the
Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque and the Topkapi Palace, where sultans ruled the
Ottoman Empire for nearly four centuries. The workers are likely to hit
something of historical value every time they put shovel to earth.
"It's extremely challenging because no other city has so many layers of
cultural history," said Ismail Karamut, the director of the Archaeological
Museums of Istanbul, which is helping to excavate four sites that lie in the
path of the subway to assess their historic significance.
The tunnels between the stations will be deep enough to run below the
historical ruins, he said. But three stations will require shafts for
escalators and concourses that will have to be dug from the surface.
Istanbul's deputy governor, Cumhur Guven Tasbasi, said the city would not
hesitate to halt construction and reroute the subway "if we come across remains
of an ancient city, or a theater or any ancient relics."
But it has not yet done so, despite what some archaeologists say is ample
evidence of Roman and Byzantine ruins, including the cistern next to the
governor's office.
Based on the excavation so far, Karamut said, there were no findings that
would "change the archaeological history of Istanbul." A site's historical
value, other archaeologists note, is in the eye of the beholder. Critics say
that in its rush to complete a showcase project, Istanbul is being cavalier
about its cultural heritage.
"This is like erasing the history of a place without recording it with
due care," said Manji Yang, a Unesco official who has spent years prodding
Istanbul to take better care of its ancient sites.
Critics are especially harsh about the city's decision to demolish the
walls of a bazaar, dating to the 15th century, which was unearthed on the Asian
side of the Bosporus, on the site of one of the subway stations. Archaeologists
recommended moving the walls, but a state historic preservation council
overruled them, saying they were too cumbersome to move.
"In Istanbul, people don't think it is important unless it is a big
monument," said Eugenia Bolognesi, an Italian archaeologist who has worked here
for 20 years. "This was the place where caravans left Istanbul for Mecca. There
might not be Byzantine mosaics, but the history is important."
The city was far more careful about a shipwreck discovered at Yenikapi, a
coastal neighborhood on the European side that was a harbor during Byzantine
times. The pieces of the boat, which dates to either the 11th or 13th century,
are being moved before construction on a subway station there begins.
Eventually, they will be displayed as an exhibit in the station.
Archaeologists are excited about the find, which they say could tell a
lot about seafaring in the days when Istanbul was known as Constantinople.
Exhibiting it in the station, they said, is a better solution than moving it to
a museum, where it would be lost among the other antiquities.
To obtain a construction loan from the Japan Bank for International
Cooperation, Istanbul submitted to a thorough review process, which includes
monthly reports of archaeological findings. But critics fault Istanbul for
relying on local archaeologists, who they say are poorly financed and trained
for such a complex project.
"A case as important as Istanbul should also have non-Turk experts," Yang
of Unesco said. "Istanbul is a site that is of such incredible international
value that it should have been shared." Even critics of Istanbul's methods
concede that it is unrealistic to expect that it not build a subway in the old
city. Rome and Athens both built systems, despite their rich archaeological
troves. Subways can also have a salutary effect on above-ground treasures by
reducing pollution from cars.
"This is a modern city, in which people have to live and get to work each
day," Ms. Yang said. "The challenge for Istanbul is developing a modern city
while protecting its ancient heritage."
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