M. İSKENDER TARGAÇ
Ancient Zeugma BC. As one of the four important cities of the Kingdom of Commagene, which was founded in the 1st century, it awaits its tragic end today in Belkıs village, located approximately 10 km east of Nizip District of Gaziantep. In accordance with this feature of Zeugma, whose name means "bridge", "vineyard" or "passage place" in Greek, it is stated in the sources that Alexander the Great crossed the Euphrates here on his way to the Persian Campaign. Since I believe that these sources and all media organizations, which are naturally sensitive to the fact that Zeugma will be submerged under the Birecik Dam lake, adequately reflect the historical information about this unique ancient settlement, I would like to focus only on "the lesson to be learned from this event". Catherine Abadie Reynal, the head of the French archaeologist team who has been participating in the Zeugma excavations in Belkıs Village with her team for five years, explains her views on this issue as follows. “… The only thing I regret is that I wish everyone had taken action five years ago. Because it was known five years ago that this would happen. We literally did an emergency dig. …There is no tradition of urgent excavations here. Of course, it is obvious that events will not develop this way in France. When making the decision to build a dam here, the archaeological risk factor was not taken into account in any way. Of course, there is also the ecological factor. However, an American determined the locations of all the ancient cities that would be under water in the early 90s. Everything is a matter of organization, we don't have that here... Do we really have no organization? If the organization really does not exist, what about those who decided to submerge the priceless Hasankeyf, which was the capital of the Artukid State between 1101-1232 AD, or those who longed to make cultural property collection impossible in Turkey with antiquated police bans, acting like an unnamed hero? Who are those who want to prevent the activities of those who devoted their lives to the protection of our cultural heritage by struggling with all difficulties in this age? If there is an organization, and if the people who make these decisions, of which I have given only two clear examples above, among many similar practices, are the people at the key points of this existing organization, shouldn't both the existing organization and the mentality of those in it be questioned? Regarding the title of my article, while I leave the answers to these questions to your discretion, I hope that no one will say, "What should we do? This is the fate of Zeugma, just like Hasankeyf." Because below is Roman Emperor II. On the back of the bronze coin belonging to Philip; Considering that the capricorn running to the right under the temple of Tykhe, the Goddess of Destiny, built on the acropolis of Zeugma, astrologically symbolizes careful and disciplined people who aim to be successful in life, it would be extremely wrong to reconcile this event with the concept of "fate". Since describing such insensitivities freely, even in the mildest terms, such as "Turkey is full of them anyway, so it doesn't matter" could constitute a crime of insult through the press, I prefer everyone to judge this incident in their own minds. Zeugma is important because it is the result of a mindset that I try to reflect. It is important because no lessons were learned from Hasankeyf. It is important because no lessons were learned from Hasankeyf. Let's be ourselves, let's at least learn the necessary lessons from the reality of "Zeugma" and never destroy such cultural treasures, which are both national and universal, by the hands of the "authorities" again.
(Archaeology and Art Magazine September/October 2000)
