The images recently coming out of the ancient town of Hasankeyf have simply been shocking. In scenes and sounds suggestive of the Islamic State’s destruction of Palmyra and the Taliban blowing up the Bamiyan Buddhas, rocks rained down in some areas following the sound of explosions, shaking the 12,000-year-old settlement on the banks of the Tigris in Turkey, in some cases destroying history. In other instances, historical structures were photographed being carted away. 

All this is part of the current controversy in the latest episode of a decades-old saga that has brought Turkey to the verge of losing traces of at least 10 civilizations. This unique cultural heritage could have been preserved — it stood to attract millions of tourists if properly excavated — but instead, Ankara has maintained a chilly resolve to submerge an area of 313 square kilometers under the waters of a hydroelectric dam with a maximum lifespan of 60 years. Proposed in the 1950s, construction of the Ilisu Dam began in 2006 and proceeded with domestic funding after three European governments pulled out of the project. The dam is finally close to completion.

In May, authorities relocated the mausoleum of the 15th-century warrior Zeynel Bey in a stage-managed spectacle designed to silence critics by supposedly showing that the government respects historical heritage. Other monuments, including mosques, a bathhouse and a citadel gate, are also slated for relocation to an archaeological park in “New Hasankeyf.” Is this really preserving history? What is humankind actually losing at Hasankeyf?

Put simply, Turkey will be inundating an area preserving 12 millennia of history and some 300 archaeological sites. Ninety percent of Hasankeyf will disappear, and with it, so will myriad monuments built by the Romans, the Byzantines, the Umayyad, the Abbasids, the Artuqids, the Marwanids, the Ayyubids, the Seljuks and the Ottomans, among others. The lost heritage will include the largest surviving arch bridge from medieval times along with mosques, the remains of palaces, mansions, madrasas, a mint, fortress walls and gates, water canals, inns, baths and cemeteries.