The restoration of 30 handwritten manuscripts damaged by water in the southeastern city of Batman is currently under way in Konya. Floodwaters deluged Batman in November 2006, leaving over 3,000 Turkish, Ottoman and Persian volumes waterlogged, among them 30 rare manuscripts.

Upon hearing that the manuscripts were among the damaged items, the staff at a library of handwritten manuscripts in Konya took immediate action and offered to provide emergency care for the repair of the precious documents. Bekir Şahin, an official at the library, admitted that they have a difficult job ahead to preserve them, given the historic value of the texts. “Actually, those works were donated to the library. First aid began right away to save the manuscripts from becoming worse. We immediately put newsprint in between the cover pages. Then we put napkins in between two pages. After we packed them in Batman, they were moved to the library here in Konya. We waited for them to dry without exposing them to natural light or using any external means. The napkins were replaced regularly so as to allow the pages to lose all the moisture. All in all, it took us 20 days to dry the manuscripts completely.” Şahin said they had treated the wet manuscripts as if they were ill and provided professional care for them in the library's restoration department, where scientists scrutinized each page for remnants of mud or dust. He added that the books that were dirty were cleaned with alcohol and methylcellulose. Special paste was used to patch the torn sections, said Şahin. “Work is still ongoing for care and repair of the books. They will also be protected against sunshine, dust and air pollution.”

As part of their task, the books are being catalogued by biographic as well as bibliographic information, said Şahin. “We will also digitize these books, after which a copy of the CD will be sent back to the works' previous owner.”