In the Alanya district of Antalya, there are artifacts from the Byzantine period; The ancient city of Naula, which includes temples, churches and an ancient theater, was destroyed by unidentified people with spray paint on its walls. While reacting to this state of Naula, which has hundreds of years of history, Muhtar Ahmet Top said that the authorities should protect it.
There are 6 temples, 2 churches and 1 ancient theater in the Naula Ancient City, which is located in Alanya’s Mahmutlar District and is built on 33 acres, all of which are dated to the Byzantine period.
Many parts of the ancient city in the protected area, which is surrounded by walls and 300 meters from the sea, are in ruins. While the ancient city, which also includes endemic plants, is located right in the middle of the settlements, unidentified people are destroying the historical area here. Those who had a picnic in the protected area and left their garbage, now wrote inscriptions with spray paint on the walls that are hundreds of years old, spoiling the natural appearance of the ancient city.
“THEY DAMAGE THE NAULA”
Ahmet Top, the headman of Mahmutlar Neighborhood, who stated that he was very sad about the final state of the Naula Ancient City, which has not yet started the restoration work, said, “They wrote articles on the walls, they are damaging. Unfortunately, we do not own our history. Here lies a history from the Byzantines. Let’s know the value,” he said.
Stating that the writings on the walls of the historical city were caused by idleness, headman Top said, “This place is empty, there is no security. The environment is available, empty. They ate chips and threw a fire. So I think these are due to lack of ownership. There is no other Naula, there is no Mahmutlar, there is no Alanya. Let’s own it,” he said. On the other hand, it was noted that the mapping works continue in the ancient city of Naula, which was learned to be an area allocated to the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the restoration works have not started yet, and there are works that need to be completed first. In addition, it was learned that the Alanya Municipality Culture Directorate requested an allocation for the landscaping of the Ancient City of Naula, and a joint work with the Ministry of Culture and Tourism would be carried out. (NTV)
