Abstract:

Until the last quarter of the century, the protection of the city's dwellings, which had traditional and historical residential architecture, by the city dwellers and the public administration, was an ignorant approach. In today's cultural history thanks to this approach that tried to be the formation of a large number of residential areas in Turkey and awareness of this residential area located in historic structures it was introduced into the protection scope of qualified with increasing cultural awareness. Modern urban living conditions are re-evaluated by blending them with the traditional urban structure. Southeastern Anatolia, which is located in Mesopotamia region, has many historical settlement centers. This region, which has a different religion and ethnicity origin, and where the human settlement is based on ancient times, has a cosmopolitan diversity of people. The architectural and social wealth in these old urban settlements reflects the multiculturalism of the region. Because Midyat is a settlement connected to Mardin province and it is a historical city on the trade route, the architectural structure arising from the cultural richness and historical accumulation of the region is the main feature of the city. (Dalkılıç, 2004: 315). It is a settlement site that preserves its original qualities due to its intense monumental structure consisting of places of worship (monasteries, churches, mosques) and inns, arastas and many historical buildings originating from the reigns of various civilizations. Midyat; it is obvious that it is a Southeastern city to be examined with its original architectural style, a rapidly changing cosmopolitan society profile, and the danger of losing its architectural richness while losing its different colors. Today in Midyat central government, local governments and civil society organizations who coordinated these two dynamics, Midyat, Turkey is working to protect it from damage suffered by the traditional housing around the settlement. The Çekül Foundation, the Midyat District Governorate, the Midyat Municipality and the Deyrul-umur Monastery Foundation are important examples of the restoration and conservation work they have undertaken in this sense. Despite the fact that Midyat Urban Site has been declared as the result of these works, public and civil support must be sustained for the implementation to be successful. The most important reason for this requirement is that Midyat's historical heritage continues to be a city where modern urban life threatens the cultural heritage and the sustainability of cultural daily life remaining from different civilizations will be preserved.

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