Turkey: Istanbul might lose world heritage status

Istanbul might get struck off the UNESCO World Heritage list because of a bridge being built over the Golden Horn, Zaman daily reported Monday.

The Turkish section of the International Council on Sites and Monuments has submitted a report to UNESCO, which might instead place Istanbul on a list of endangered world heritage sites, according to Taraf daily.

Built on three gigantic pylons planted in the Golden Horn, the new bridge will alter the cityscape of the heart of historic Istanbul, from the Byzantine-Ottoman neighborhood of Sultahamet to the Venetian-Genoese one of Galata, according to local press.

Builders did not follow the original blueprint for the bridge, which UNESCO approved two years ago, according to the association of Istanbul architects.

''They built three pylons instead of two, probably because they realized the original bridge would not be able to hold the subway,'' architect Korhan Gumus told Hurriyet daily.