Gobekli Tepe in Sanliurfa: Zero Point of History
Gobekli Tepe, located in the Haliliye district of Sanliurfa, has a history of 12.000 years and attracts attention especially by foreign tourists. It is on the UNESCO World Heritage list. In 2022, it was visited by 600 thousand people in 9 months.
Gobekli Tepe is 18 kilometers from the center of Sanliurfa and is within the borders of Orencik district. In 1995, excavations began in cooperation with the Sanliurfa Museum and the Berlin German Archeology Institute. During the studies, many artifacts belonging to the Neolithic period were found.
Gobekli Tepe, which is considered to be the “oldest temple in the world” with its 12 thousand-year history, was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List on July 1, 2018. Gobekli Tepe, which is considered to be 7 thousand years older than Stonehenge in England and 7500 years older than the Egyptian pyramids, was covered with a roof to prevent damage to the artifacts. In addition, a revitalization center was built to promote Gobekli Tepe better.
600 Thousand People Visited Gobekli Tepe in the First 9 Months
The Mayor of Haliliye said that all history books have changed with Gobekli Tepe. Stating that Karahantepe and Sanliurfa, which were unearthed after Gobekli Tepe, have been revealed to be one of the oldest cities in the world, the Mayor said, “As a result of the declaration of Karahantepe as a historical site in addition to Gobekli Tepe, we have hosted approximately 600 thousand tourists in Sanliurfa in 9 months. .
Our goal is to have 1 million tourists come to our city by the end of the year. In this direction, we will bring Sanliurfa to the place it deserves in terms of tourism by doing the necessary work with both the municipality and other institutions,” he said.
Explaining that they also want to increase the number of tourists staying in the city, the Mayor said, “Hopefully, we aim to have more than 1 million tourists staying in our city by the end of the year. In order to meet the need in this direction, as Haliliye Municipality, we have transformed our own building into a 180-bed hotel in order to contribute to tourism. In this period, our hotel will also be operational,” he said.
Reminding that Sanliurfa has a warm climate, the Mayor said, “We would like to host tourists in Sanliurfa, which has a warm climate in terms of winter tourism. I want it to be known that we have started working with our agencies on this issue. Winter season is spent in Sanliurfa in a warm and mild climate. For this reason, we are waiting for everyone, especially foreign tourists living in Europe, where the energy crisis is experienced,” he said.
