Understanding cultural heritage in Turkey: institutional context and organisational Issues

This paper explores Turkey’s cultural heritage system from the perspective of the ‘Heritage Chain’, which sees the heritage sector as an interconnected series of relationships and activities including protection and conservation, archaeological activity, research and museum presentation. By reviewing quantitative data along each step of the chain, we construct a holistic perspective that shows interrelationships between activities and illustrates which parts of the system are underdeveloped. By demonstrating the effects of Turkey’s distinct combination of bureaucratic fragmentation and centralisation on professional practice among conservators, archaeologists and museums, we argue for increased attention to administrative issues within heritage studies.