Damming the past: Interplay between landscape heritage and water management

The twentieth century introduced unprecedented large-scale water and land management projects, that is, dams, that triggered conservation discussions on the basis that these projects may pose threats to landscape heritage representing the historical legacy of the relationship between human and nature. Moreover, in line with the Cold War context, an international heritage boom also dominated the post-war world. Hasankeyf, the built landscape heritage dating back to two millennia BCE, illustrates the conflict between dam construction and heritage preservation. In Hasankeyf, a considerable portion of the landscape heritage is submerged dam. Within the given context, the study analyses the historical economic and political dynamics in Hasankeyf’s destruction by revealing the involved (inter)national actors.