Istanbul madrasas in the context of the conservation of cultural heritage: A qualitative research on the Caferaga Madrasa

In this thesis, the conservation and re-functioning of cultural heritage at the national and local level were discussed in the context of urban culture and identity, within the framework of its interaction with international cultural heritage conservation policies and practies. In this context, in the example of Caferaga Madrasa, one of the Istanbul madrasas, whics is an expression of Istanbul's cultural diversity, it was aimed to analyze the conservation and re-functioning activities and the social and cultural reflections of these activities. In the thesis, urban culture and identity were analyzed based on the concept of culture, and cultural heritage, which is considered as a socio-cultural construction, was discussed in terms of its widespread manifestations in the modern period and the conservation of cultural heritage in Turkey was included. Istanbul madrasas were examined as historical, institutional, and cultural assets, and as a sample application, qualitative research findings carried out in Caferaga Madrasa were included. In this context, an ethnographic case study was conducted; through 4 different semi-structured question form, in-depth interviews were conducted with various 15 participants from the users of the Madrasa, observation was made, and relevant literature and online resources were used. The conservation of cultural heritage has been a phenomenon accepted internationally since the second half of the 20th century. Internationalized cultural heritage has gained importance in terms of multiculturalism-cultural diversity and economic relations, which today's urban culture and identity are widely characterized in the globalization process. This situation has brought with it the debates on museumification, which focus on the relationship of cultural heritage with the society in which it belongs. In the Turkey experience, in the conservation and re-functioning of the Caferaga Madrasa in the Sultanahmet urban tourism region, interaction with the said international context were established. In this interaction, the Madrasa, which has been a place in the urban culture of Istanbul, especially in the fields of culture-art and tourism-promotion, can be considered as a partially museumized place rather than a completely museumized place in terms of social and cultural relations. Within the framework of the interaction established with the international context, the relations have occurred fluidly, not with sharp boundaries. Keywords: Culture, Urban Culture, Urban Identity, Cultural Heritage, Conservation of Cultural Heritage, Re-functioning/Adaptive Reuse, Commodificaiton, Museumification/Musealisation, Caferaga Madrasa.