Heritage Protection Service
The Heritage Protection Service is the government agency of the Irad Special Economic Zone (ISEZ) responsible for monuments of history and culture. It works under the heritage ordinance of 1997: it protects monuments, runs the open-air museums, among them the Caravanserai of Rabat-i-Safed, and issues excavation permits. Its director since 2010 has been the archaeologist Navruz Khudoiberdiev.[1]
The Service keeps the State Register of Monuments of History and Culture, which has four categories: World Heritage, national importance, local importance and provisional protection. It has published 45 entries online since November 2026 (see List of monuments in the State Register of Irad).[2] It is the state body answerable for the two World Heritage properties in the ISEZ: the Church of St. Janyl and its Cathedral Hill precinct, inscribed in 2004 with the Ruins of Old Iyık Janyl, and Rabat-i-Safed, included in the transnational Silk Roads listing of 2014, which both Iradi administrations protested. It approves works on the fabric of the cathedral precinct, part-funds its conservation and paid for the 3D survey for the cathedral's virtual tour.[2] The Service does not work beyond the Qara-Chik Demarcation Line.
References
- ^ Department of Public Information (2026). Directory of the Government of the ISEZ. Talas.
- ^ Heritage Protection Service (2026). 'Heritage Protection Service.' Talas.