President Erdoğan: Göbeklitepe shows the depth of the roots of civilization in Anatolia
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan spoke at an event held to mark the official inauguration of the Göbeklitepe archaeological site in the province of Şanlıurfa.
“FINDINGS OF THE EXCAVATIONS CARRIED OUT IN GÖBEKLITEPE ARE OF SUBSTANTIAL VALUE TO MANY SCIENTIFIC BRANCHES”
“Göbeklitepe is such an important site that it necessitates the re-writing of the history of humanity. With its contributions to the humanity’s common cultural treasure, Göbeklitepe has now become a reference of paramount importance in that it shows the depth of the roots of civilization in Anatolia. Göbeklitepe adds to the countless treasures Anatolia ─ which is the homeland of the humanity, so to speak ─ already possesses,” President Erdoğan said, noting that findings of the excavations carried out in Göbeklitepe are of substantial value to many scientific branches, first and foremost to the history of religions, along with archeology and anthropology.
“WE HAVE RAISED THE NUMBER OF TOURISTS VISITING TURKEY FROM 13 MILLION TO 46 MILLION”
Turkey has long been restricted to the triangle of sea, sun and sand in tourism, President Erdoğan underlined, and added: “However, we harbor a very large potential for tourism from history to natural beauties to music to gastronomy. During our administration, we opened 52 museums and renovated 142 others.”
President Erdoğan continued: “We have expanded our tourism spectrum with the introduction of many new destinations from healthcare to sport to highlands to historical sites. We have raised the number of tourists visiting Turkey from 13 million to 46 million, with our tourism revenue rising from 12 billion dollars to nearly 30 billion dollars.”
With the monuments dating back to the Akkadian, Sumerian, Babylonian, Hittite, Roman, Umayyad, Seljuk, Ottoman and Republican eras, Urfa is a complete treasury of history, President Erdoğan further stressed, and thanked all those who contributed to the archeological works in Göbeklitepe.
