Evaluation of restoration practices for the Traditional Diyarbakır House Located at Parcel 28-29, Block 382 in Savaş Neighbourhood, Sur District, Diyarbakır province, within the context of cultural heritage conservation

Throughout history, Diyarbakir, Sur District, the first settlement unit and a centre where many civilizations have ruled, has maintained the continuity of settlement, continued trade, and located important buildings of the city. However, the organic structure of this historic settlement area has been damaged both by the effects of rural-to-urban migration and some social cases. It can be observed that the civil architectural examples in the region have also been influenced by these cases. In this study, the focus is on the conservation practices of listed buildings located in the southeast part of Diyarbakir's old town, in Parcel 28-29 of Block 382. The restoration practices carried out on these buildings were observed from a conservation perspective, and detailed information about the conservation practices was shared. Partially deteriorated and subjected to various changes according to needs, this structure was initially repurposed as a cafe before the restoration. In 2016, social cases known as the "Trench Cases" took place in the historic Sur District. This risk factor in the area, where numerous listed administrative, cultural, religious, and commercial structures and many examples of civil architecture are located, threatened, and damaged many listed buildings during this period. The study is situated in the region where cases occurred in the registered buildings, forming the main subject of the thesis These buildings have suffered some damage, particularly due to abandonment after the cases. Subsequently, the structure was confiscated and transferred to public property following an urgent expropriation decision by the Council of Ministers numbered 2016/8659 on March 21, 2016. After the transfer to the public, survey studies, restoration projects, and restoration implementation tenders were completed, and the conservation process of the structure began. This study covers both the project phase and the conservation work carried out in the field. In the practice processes, reconstruction, restitution, and conservation practices carried out in the listed build was assessed within the framework of the Venice Charter. Following the evaluation, it was concluded that the applications complied with accepted local and global criteria in the context of the conservation of cultural heritage. For these conservation practices, deemed favourable at the building scale, to be effective, they need to be considered at the urban scale as a whole. This can be facilitated through collaborations at the level of non-governmental organizations, local authorities, and ministries. Keywords: Architecture, Cultural Heritage, Conservation, Conservation Methods, and Techniques.