İznik Is Not on the UNESCO Permanent List: Where the Process Stands Today

İznik was submitted to the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List on 15 April 2014 and is registered under reference number 5900. The submission has been made under criteria (ii), (iii) and (v) (UNESCO World Heritage Centre). The Tentative List is a precondition for nomination to the permanent list; it does not in itself constitute an inscription.

No entry from Turkey at the 2026 meeting

At the meeting of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee held on 19-29 July 2026 in the South Korean city of Busan, 26 sites were included in the World Heritage List. No new property from Turkey entered the list. Turkey ranks first in the world on the Tentative List with 79 properties; the number of sites on the permanent list remained at 22. After the meeting the total number of sites on the list rose to 1,273 (Yeni Mesaj, 28 July 2026, GM Tourism).

Earlier, in June 2025, it had also been reported that İznik was not accepted onto the permanent list (Yeni Dönem). That the nomination file was accepted as complete in content and format was announced in 2023 (Anadolu Ajansı, 19 March 2023).

The layers the file rests on

UNESCO’s tentative list entry sets out İznik’s overlapping periods in detail: the founding in 316 BC, the First Council of Nicaea in AD 325, the Seventh Ecumenical Council in AD 787, the Anatolian Seljuks in 1081, the Byzantine recapture in 1097, the Empire of Nicaea between 1204 and 1261, and the Ottoman Beylik period in 1331. The same entry gives the length of the city walls as 4,970 meters and the number of towers as more than 100. Hacı Özbek Camii, dated 1333, Yeşil Cami, built between 1378 and 1391, and Nilüfer Hatun İmareti, dated 1388, are among the buildings named in the file.

Why it matters

Entry onto the permanent list brings conservation obligations and international visibility together. That makes it a threshold affecting both building rules and the visitor profile. As long as the outcome of the process is undecided, conservation boundaries and development status in İznik have to be read separately for each property.

For someone assessing property in the region, this is a matter beyond title deed and development checks: which conservation status the area borders must also be taken into account. If you work with an approach that carries out such checks on the buyer’s behalf, HANIGA follows this side of the process.

For the present state of the buildings named in the file, you can consult the places to visit in İznik guide.