Urmia- IRANIAN هیاروم
Urmia or Urumia is the city which is the administrative center of Iran's West Azerbaijan Province. The city is established in the middle part of the province to which it is attached, on the Urmiye Lake and Urmiye Plain. As of 2016, it has a population of 736,224(Reference :Dünya Bankası, Avrupa İstatistik Ofisi dated 8.04.2020) . Annual population growth is 4.3% and population density is 14000p / m2. The majority of the country's population is Turkish. The city is important for the country's economy. Grape export is one of the important income sources of the city. Grape festival is held in the city. It is famous for its crafts and masters such as city chess carving and miniature carpet weaving. Urmiye Salt Lake in the middle of the city is in danger of extinction due to the lack of effective watershed management in the city, agriculture policy of self-sufficiency and drying out to obtain salt(2) .
Urmia is one of the most important cities of Iran. The city, which has hosted many historical and cultural assets starting from the historical Assyrian period, is also known for its unique handicraft and grape festivals(3) . A lot of work has been done to preserve its historical cultural heritage since 1990. The historical texture of Urmia shows Ottoman-Islamic city planning features. Due to the Iranian revolution, the war in Iraq, the stream of modernism and economic reasons, the historical texture has been greatly damaged. Urmiye salt lake, which gave the city its name, is drying due to the lack of effective watershed management and state intervention for development (agriculture selfsufficiency policy and salt production) (2) . The area built in the city expanded 5 times between 1940-1980. It prevents the measures to be taken to protect the importance of the city for the country's economy. Even the historical covered bazaar, which is one of the structures that have undergone the most conservation and restoration intervention, has largely lost its historical structural features(4) .
The Process of Conservation of Iran
Classical period before the 20th century: Approaches for conservation were made by the traditional architects of the time. Conservation works in the classical period included religious buildings and government buildings.
(1900-1930): The end of the Kaçar period and the beginning of the Pahlavi period: With the arrival of Western modernism in the Middle East, significant changes occurred in the historical textures. In this period, the historical textures were destroyed and new streets and squares were created(6)
(1930-1970): In this period, protection and repair laws started to be enacted. General archaeological administration was established in 1930. The institution passed a law on protection. The first article of the law is responsible for making the restoration of the buildings before 1830 state(6) .
1934: With the establishment of the administration of foundations, this institution started to cover the restoration costs instead of the public.
1964: Ministry of Culture and Art was established. Western experts started to do academic studies
1970-1980: Archaeological Artifacts Preservation Body was established.
1980-Present: 1 year after the revolution, the Iran-Iraq war started. There were budget cuts in the field of protection. In 1982, the Ministry of Culture and Heritage was established and all previously established organs were united under this institution. In 2001, the Iranian IOSOSOS Organ started to work in the Tehran and tried to create academic studies and awareness(5)
History of Urmia
Urmia is one of the most rooted cities of Azerbaijan and even the Middle East. There is information dating back to 2000 years. The sources belonging to the Assyrians are mentioned about the Urmiye settlement near the Lake of Urmia. Also, in 1888, a seal containing the gods of Babylon was found in the region(7) . The ruins of the stone fortress belonging to the Urartu period in the city show that it was one of the important settlements of that period. The city was captured by the Byzantine Emperor Herakleios in 623 AD. After Islam, the architecture of Iranian cities began to change by being influenced by the architecture of Islamic cities. Urmia, like other cities, has constantly changed due to its critical location as it is a border city and its location on one of the most important trade axes in the region throughout history. This city is still on an important trade axis and its development continues. Urmia was conquered by the Seljuks in the 6th century. In the 8th century, the city started to develop again after the wars that were seized by the Seljuks. In the 9th and 10th centuries, the city has become one of the most important cities in the region where it is traded again. At the time of Safavi State, there were 60 neighborhoods, 6000 houses, 8 mosques and 150 villages in Urmia(7) . Due to the critical position of the city in the 12th and 13th centuries, there were constant wars and conflicts in the city by different ethnic groups in the hope of seizing the city (Shirazi, 1998).
Features of The Historical texture of Urmia:
The surface area of this tissue is approximately 305.6 hectares. It reflects the city's history and cultural accumulation. We can list the important features of the texture as follows;
• It includes monumental and culturally valuable buildings such as the Grand Bazaar and Ulu Mosque and residential neighborhoods with organic texture,
• Has a hierarchical structure,
• The historical monuments of the city are located close to each other,
• The historical nucleus, which is formed by the fact that the historical monuments in the city are close to each other,
• 90% of historical buildings in historical texture are registered in Iran cultural heritage list,
• The historical texture has more commercial functions,
• The presence of important public buildings in this historical texture,
• The city main bus stop is located in this texture,
• Construction of new shopping centers and multi-storey car parks in historical texture,
• Some areas in the tissue are used as storage areas,
• The use of the area throughout the history by the public, leaving only some parcels empty,
• Among the most important functions in this texture are settlement and trade. Besides these functions, there are more administrative and political functions,
• Although the historical texture has changed, the old general appearance is still preserved.
Urmia City Conservation Plan Process:
1930: Some historical buildings were wanted to be demolished but they were canceled because they gathered a reaction. This initiated the conservation works in the city. The National Heritage Organ was established.
1942: On this date, the urban area totaled 300 hectares.
1950: The Conservation Body was established and the conservation works in the historical texture have been accelerated but limited to certain important structures.
1978: The urban area increased 5 times and became 14000 hectares. Due to the security vulnerability caused by the Iranian revolution, migration from rural to urban areas increased significantly, so the urban area grew very rapidly.
1980: Studies stopped due to Iran Iraq war.
1983: Many buildings were destroyed due to air bombardment.
1995: Planning for conservation started, but it was not successful due to the modernism understanding of the period and the contributions of the city to the country's economy. The plan was implemented at some neighborhood scale.
2006: The plan has been revised and tried to be implemented, but studies have stopped due to economic concerns and the city is losing its identity.
Urmia Conservation Plan
The Urmia Conservation Plan, which was prepared in 1990, was revised by a private institution in 2004 and started to be implemented. In this plan, which was prepared for Urmia in general, the historical texture of the city has been identified as problematic texture and the quality of life and social relations in the texture have decreased over time. Thus, some Strategies and models are proposed in the plan. In the proposed model, the multi-center city model was found suitable for the physical development of the city. Another issue of importance in the plan is the traffic problem in historical texture.
In this plan, the topics related to the historical texture can be listed as follows:
• Heavy traffic, narrow and long streets are among the important problems of this texture and the effects of these problems are getting more and more. That's why the historical texture of the city is damaged.
• The original owners of the historical texture and the people who value this texture have emptied the texture and the people who use this area for commercial purposes have settled here. Thus, less importance was given to the tissue and the quality of life in the tissue decreased.
• The abandonment of some empty and historically insignificant buildings in the texture caused the image to be polluted.
• When we look at the world standards, the green area in the texture is very lacking.
REFERENCES
1. Hatami, M. (2013). Tarihi kent merkezlerinin koruma sorunları, Urmiye tarihi kent merkezi üzerine bir araştırma (Doctoral dissertation, Fen Bilimleri Enstitüsü).
2. MADEN, T. E. (2013). İRAN'IN URMİYE GÖLÜ SORUNU. Middle Eastern Analysis/Ortadogu Analiz, 5(60).
3. İran Urmiye'de 4. Üzüm Festivali Belgeseli- Devrialem
4. Bölüm(16.12.2016) www.trtbelgesel.com 4. İran Urmiye Kentindeki Tarihi Kapalı Çarşı-Devrialem 2. Bölüm (19.12.2016) www.trtbelgesel.com
5. ICOMOS. (2007). The ICOMOS Charter for the Interpretation and Presentation of Culltural Heritage Sites. 10 April 2007.
6. Habibi, M. (2005). Urban Conservation, Tahran University, Faculty of Fine Arts Publishing House,Tahran.
7. Anzali, H. (2004). Urmia history at different times, Anzali Publisher, Urmiye.
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