Within the scope of the project named “Revival of Ancient Historical and Cultural Corridors – carried out within the framework of Interreg-IPA Bulgaria – Turkey Cross-Border Cooperation, where the Presidency for European Union acts as the national authority, “Information and Experience Sharing Conference on Research, Protection and Promotion of Immovable Cultural Heritage Sites of the Ottoman Period” was held in Edirne on 13-14-15 July 2021 in cooperation with Bulgarian Harmanlı Municipality and Edirne Promotion and Tourism Association.
Nearly 60 participants – experts and trainers, the beneficiaries of the project, Harmanlı Municipality and Edirne Promotion and Tourism Association managers, project teams, municipality employees from Harmanlı and Edirne, culture and tourism workers, art historians, cultural heritage experts, historians, Trakya University scientists, students, museum officials and NGO representatives – participated in the conference.
Yasin SAYGILI, Research Assistant of the Art History Department of our University, presented two papers within the scope of the project, which aims to better protect the cultural heritage along the Diagonal Road between the cross-border cities of Harmanlı and Edirne and to cooperate in the field of sustainable tourism.
On the first day of the conference, in his talk titled “Ottoman Cultural Heritage on Via Militaris” (Via Militaris üzerinde Osmanlı Kültür Mirası), SAYGILI introduced the historical Via Militaris (Diagonal Road) Road, which also passes through Harmanlı and Edirne, and shared information on the cultural heritage and protection of cultural heritage on the road.
On the second day, in his talk titled “Tourism After Corona” – (Corona Sonrası Turizm), SAYGILI stated that sustainable tourism between Edirne and Harmanlı was adversely affected during the pandemic and added that cross-border cooperation and solutions should be produced for the problems that may arise from the pandemic.
On the third day of the conference, SAYGILI organized a trip to the Bulgarian delegation on Ottoman Artifacts and Cultural Heritage in Edirne as a guide.
The conference, attended by many representatives of institutions and organizations, aroused great interest from the participants.
We congratulate our research assistant who contributed to the conference with two papers and wish him continued success.
