Göbeklitepe attracts 2.8 Million Visitors in 6 years

Göbeklitepe, referred to as the “zero point of history” and included in the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2018, has welcomed 2.8 million visitors over six years.

Located in the rural Örencik neighborhood near the city center of Şanlıurfa’s Haliliye district, Göbeklitepe was discovered during surface surveys in 1963. The most concrete findings emerged in 1986 when a farmer unearthed a statue while plowing his field.

Excavations, which began in 1995 with permission from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism’s General Directorate of Cultural Heritage and Museums, revealed “T”-shaped standing stones adorned with wild animal figures from the Neolithic era. These stones range from 3 to 6 meters in height and weigh between 40 and 60 tons.

Gaining increasing fame with its Neolithic artifacts, Göbeklitepe was included in UNESCO’s “World Heritage Tentative List” in 2011 and was officially added to the World Heritage List during the 42nd World Heritage Committee Meeting in Bahrain on July 1, 2018.

Göbeklitepe’s global recognition increased further when 2019 was declared the “Year of Göbeklitepe” by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, boosting visitor numbers significantly.

Despite a decline in visitors due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the earthquake and flood disasters in 2023, Göbeklitepe has seen a total of 2.8 million visitors over six years.