Prof. Dr. Ahmet Türer, a faculty from METU Department of Civil Engineering and Head of Research Center for Special Structures and Tall Buildings took part in the project as a consultant on moving Zeynelbey Tomb, which would remain under the waters of Ilısu dam reservoir, all in one piece mediated a breakthrough in Turkey. One of the immovable cultural assets of Hasankeyf historical settlement on the River Tigris on which the Ilısu Dam was built, Zeynelbey Tomb was constructed in 1475 in Hasankeyf on behalf of Zeynel Bey, the son of the Akkoyunlu ruler Uzun Hasan, who died in the Battle of Otlukbeli about 550 years ago, was moved to its new location, which was 2 km away from where it used to be in all one piece for the first time in Turkey. You can access the SMPT technology used for transporting heavy structures and the animation video of Zeynelbey Tomb athttps://www.facebook.com/dsigenelmudurlugu/videos/1349607788451826/.

Thanks to such efforts, a very important cultural asset has been preserved and safely moved to a safe zone out of the newly constructed Ilisu Dam and handed down to next generations. In addition, a historical structure with masonry walls, one of the historic buildings rarely found in the world, was isolated from the ground using seismic isolators due to the proximity of the area to active faults and for earthquake reasons for the first time in Turkey. When an earthquake happens, the structure would be suspended in the air so that the shaking and earthquake forces to come from the ground would be prevented to be felt in the building to a great extent without disturbing the originality of the historical structure.