A public fund for financing conservation activities: Contribution share for preservation of the immovable cultural assets

Abstract

Immovable cultural assets constitute the common heritage of humanity and are among the most important elements of the built environment. As a public duty and a social responsibility, the effective preservation of cultural assets and their transfer to future generations require not only expertise and experience but also financial resources. The costs of conservation activities are mainly borne by the owner of the immovable cultural asset, while the state, as a constitutional obligation, provides facilitating financial solutions for these costs. Considering the number of immovable cultural assets in Turkey, it is a fact that public resources are limited. In order to create alternative public resources, a new public fund was introduced in 2004 with an amendment to the Law No. 2863 under the name of ‘Contribution Share for the Preservation of Immovable Cultural Assets’ by charging tax authors an additional 10% of their real estate taxes. The focus of the study is on this public fund. Within the scope of the study, the administrative system for the preservation of immovable cultural assets is first summarized, followingly direct and indirect financial supports for the financing of conservation activities is discussed. Then, the details about the contribution share for the preservation of immovable cultural assets are presented in a legislative manner and the contribution share system is analysed for the province of Gaziantep in the period covering the years 2014- 2018. As a result of the study, it is concluded that this public fund is a solution to the problems of conservation financing, especially in developing countries, and at the same time, it provides social justice by distributing the cost of conservation activities to the whole society.