A study on conservation of architectural housing units in the context of sociocultural structure and alteration: case of Cappadocia–Güzelyurt/Turkey

Abstract

In urban life with ever evolving, growing and changing cultural and physical dynamics, traditional urban fabric should be preserved and this conservation should be made sustainable. This urban scale conservation can only be ensured by understanding physical and cultural structure and values of traditional fabric. Only a conservation operation which is prepared in a holistic scope and involves social, physical, functional and aesthetic solutions can enable the determination of place and importance of traditional historical fabric in urban- and regional-scale and revelation of its usability using appropriate methods for appropriate purposes. Traditional housing fabric of Güzelyurt has faced the problem of conservation following sociocultural transformation in the settlement. In this study, this conservation was discussed within the changing social structure, and traditional housing fabric was described, investigated and classified within its cultural context.

Keywords:

• Güzelyurt (Gelveri)
• traditional housing
• conservation
• sociocultural exchanges
• Karamanlides

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. Iconoclasm is the deliberate attack to religious icons and other symbols or monuments of one's own culture, usually for religious or political motives. Generally, it had emerged as a result of sectarian strife among factions of the same religion.

2. Rumlar (the Greeks) were composed of various people who were the remains of ancient Anatolian civilizations who had adopted the Greek language and Orthodox Christianity after Byzantine (Eastern Roman) sovereignty in Anatolia. The word “Rum” stemmed from Rome due to its etymological and historical usage. This word corresponds to “Roman Empire”, “a person living in Roman Empire”, “Roman”, “a person from a province other than an Arabic province”, “Anatolian” and “Ottoman” (http://tr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rum).

3. “Housing policy”, a policy of Turkish culture which has always been applied by the Turks since the earliest periods, requires Turkish rulers to allow local people living in the conquered lands to continue to live in these lands and also bringing and settling Turkish people in these newly conquered lands. Housing policy is a state policy applied in Turkish states in the name of Turkification and Islamization. This policy also explains the presence of people with different ethnic origins, faith and cultures who lived as Seljuk and Ottoman subjects (Yavuz 1998).

4. “Tol” is also used in the sense of a settlement, a small settlement in Aksaray region. Selecitol village and Aratol village attached to Aksaray are thought to be named by combining the initial word with the word tol, which means a settlement. The settings referred to as tol traditionally in this region are masonry volumes in the form of a single-span vault. These were used as service areas of traditional houses. Tradition of semi-outdoor spaces such as “tol” and “örtme” has continued in Gelveri housing of subsequent periods.