Artists of the Paris based group 'Compagnie bien à vous Armanc Kerborani' do an urgent call to the planned destruction of the 12.000 years old city of Hasankeyf at the Tigris River in the Kurdistan region of Turkey.

Today at 2 pm the members of the group, which painted their bodies, gathered at the entrance of the UNESCO center in Paris. One of the member chained itself to the gates of the UNESCO building. They called the UNESCO to act for Hasankeyf which is magnificient and outstanding cultural and natural heritage of this world!

This group gave recent performances in Paris at the Louvre Museum under the Pyramid on Thursday, 27 June 2019, in Berlin at the Pergamum Museum in front of the Gate of Ishtar on Saturday, 13 July 2019 and in Rome at the Vatican on the 27th July 2019.

This is the statement of the artist group Compagnie bien à vous Armanc Kerborani for this performance:

“Following performances at the Louvre in Paris, the Pergamon Museum in Berlin and the Vatican, the Compagnie Bien à vous - Armanc Kerborani is performing once again in Paris this Wednesday, 2 October 2019. Their performance is a challenge to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and aims to draw media and popular attention of to the dire threats facing the ancient city of Hasankeyf located in Turkish Kurdistan. Hasankeyf is a twelve-thousand-year-old city that has been the home of dozens of civilizations. Situated in the Tigris Valley that stretches from Batman to Cizire (Sirnak), it was one of the first cities of the Fertile Crescent in northern Mesopotamia. The more than six thousand caves carved into the rocky cliffs around the city are testaments to the people who have lived here for millennia. The ancient fortified town, its valley, its fertile lands, especially its people are in danger because the Ilisu Dam in Kerboran is causing the water of the Tigris River to rise with unimaginable speed. Several villages of Kerboran have already been engulfed, including Ilisu (Germav), Celik and Tilo.

Hasankeyf and the Tigris Valley meet nine of the selection criteria used by UNESCO to select sites included on the World Heritage List. Because the Turkish government refuses to apply for recognition, UNESCO must step in and stop this destruction of this site, important not only to the history and culture of Turkish Kurdistan, but to the heritage of peoples around the world. We call on UNESCO to save Hasankeyf by adding it to the list of World Heritage sites! Protect Hasankeyf and protect the heritage of humanity!

The artists of the Compagnie Bien à vous - Armanc Kerborani include Juan-Golan Elibeg and Aurélie Gerardin, with the support of Ercan Ayboga, Thomas Sino and Antoine Heraly.”