The Republic of Türkiye inherited one of the world's most diverse and rich architectural landscapes, a collection that includes Byzantine churches, Seljuk caravanserais, Ottoman palaces, synagogues, monasteries, and early Republican civic buildings. This vast heritage also carried the weight of historical challenges, including the legacy of wars, displacement, fires, earthquakes, and decades of economic hardship, which left many monuments in urgent need of protection and restoration. Furthermore, from the 1950s onwards, rapid urbanisation in cities like Istanbul placed mounting pressure on historic neighbourhoods due to informal housing, expanding road networks, and reinforced concrete development.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who was born in Istanbul in 1954, witnessed these urban transformations firsthand long before he became the city's metropolitan mayor in 1994. After founding the AK Party on August 14, 2001, and assuming power the following year, his governments increasingly prioritized the restoration and adaptive reuse of historical sites as a central pillar of Türkiye's cultural heritage policy. President Erdogan has frequently linked this vision to his personal relationship with Istanbul. Speaking in 2025, he reflected on his service as mayor, prime minister, and president, highlighting projects such as the reopening of the Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque and the restoration of the Rami Barracks as efforts through which he hoped to leave a lasting mark on the city.
As the AK Party marks its 25th anniversary, restoration, archaeology, and adaptive reuse have become defining features of its approach to cultural heritage. Serdar Cam, the deputy minister of Culture and Tourism, explains that the strategy has evolved significantly over the past two decades. According to Cam, the approach has shifted from one focused solely on physical repair toward a holistic model that combines scientific documentation, the protection of original values, sustainability, a balance between conservation and use, and bringing cultural assets together with society. This shift involves preserving a building's original function where possible and providing an appropriate new use where necessary. Conservation now extends beyond restoring physical structures to include documentation, maintenance, visitor planning, environmental design, and public access.
The Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque serves as a prominent example of this account. Since its reopening for worship on July 24, 2020, it has remained accessible to both worshippers and visitors while conservation and structural reinforcement work continues under the supervision of a scientific committee. The restoration effort spans religious, civic, military, and industrial heritage across the country rather than focusing on a handful of landmark sites. In Istanbul, Cam points to projects including the Rami Barracks, the Maiden's Tower, the Galata Tower, and the former Defter-i Hakani Nezareti (Ministry of the Imperial Land Registry) building. Additionally, restoration work has been conducted at the Sehzadebasi Tombs, Hatice Turhan Valide Sultan's Tomb, the tombs of Mustafa III and Selim III, and the tomb of Mahmud II. These sites preserve the memory of key figures from the Ottoman dynasty, such as Hatice Turhan Valide Sultan, who was the mother of Sultan Mehmed IV, and various Ottoman sultans.
Beyond Istanbul, the programme includes conservation work at the ancient city of Ani, Edirne's Hidirlik Bastion, the Girls' Monastery in Trabzon, and Alanya Castle, while also expanding to industrial heritage through projects such as the former Adana Mensucat (yarn) Factory. These projects reflect a strategy that spans centuries of history and a wide range of architectural traditions. Speaking at the reopening of Yildiz Palace in July 2024, President Erdogan noted that approximately 6,000 foundation-owned cultural properties had been restored or repaired since 2002, while more than 120 restoration projects had been completed abroad through TIKA, the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency. The reopening of Yildiz Palace, following a six-year restoration, was intended to return one of Istanbul's "places of memory" to public life as a museum.
For the government, preserving cultural heritage extends to uncovering the civilisations that preceded the current era. At an international archaeology symposium in Ankara in August 2025, President Erdogan described Anatolia as a place where beliefs, cultures, languages, and civilisations had intertwined over millennia to shape humanity's shared memory. While acknowledging that archaeological preservation did not begin with his government, he stated that his administration has sought to build on the legacy of late Ottoman heritage laws and early Republican institutions by expanding resources devoted to archaeology. The results are particularly visible beneath modern-day Istanbul. Art historian Hayri Fehmi Yilmaz notes that archaeological excavations at Yenikapi, Sirkeci, Cagaloglu, Uskudar, and Kadikoy produced finds of exceptional importance for both Istanbul and world history. At Yenikapi, excavations conducted during the construction of the Marmaray rail project pushed back the city's known history to the Neolithic era and revealed evidence of everyday life from the Byzantine and Ottoman periods.
Deputy Minister Serdar Cam notes that this expansion has accelerated under the "Legacy to the Future" initiative, launched in October 2023 by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism under Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy. Archaeological work grew from 227 sites in 58 provinces in 2024 to 255 sites across 65 provinces in 2025, employing more than 2,000 archaeologists and art historians, along with over 3,000 other workers. The same conservation philosophy is applied across diverse projects. At Ani and Sumela Monastery, restoration focuses on preserving multi-layered heritage through scientific methods, while in Istanbul, work at the Maiden's Tower and Galata Tower maintains their historical character. The Rami Barracks illustrates the emphasis on adaptive reuse; the 19th-century military complex was transformed into a public library offering educational and cultural programmes. President Erdogan inaugurated the Rami Library in January 2023, and in 2025, he stated it had welcomed seven million visitors in its first two and a half years. In August 2026, the library won the grand-scale category at the IFLA Green Library Awards for its transformation into a climate-resilient urban commons.
Architect Sinan Genim believes the period has seen stronger institutional support for heritage conservation, citing projects such as Tas Tepeler, which have changed accepted ideas about archaeology and human history, as well as expanded work at Topkapi Palace and the continuing conservation of Edirne Palace. Furthermore, the government emphasizes protecting the communities that shaped the heritage. The Mor Ephrem Syriac Orthodox Church, inaugurated in Istanbul in 2023, is the first newly built church opened during the Republic's history. President Erdogan attended the laying of its foundation stone in 2019, describing the project as part of broader reforms concerning religious freedom and community foundations. According to the government, 1,084 properties, including 113 belonging to the Syriac community, have been registered in the names of minority community foundations, and 20 minority places of worship have been restored. Sait Susin, honorary president of the Istanbul Syriac Orthodox Church Foundation, called the church a historic event that made worship easier and served as a source of prestige for the country. Under the Legacy to the Future initiative, the ministry is also expanding visitor infrastructure at sites such as Ephesus, Pergamon's Red Basilica, Hierapolis, Phaselis, and Aspendos. For educators like primary school teacher Huseyin Ozer, these investments help bring history to life, transforming sites like Rami Library, Hagia Sophia, and Yildiz Palace into schools that carry the wisdom of the past into the present.
