Relocation of people living around Hasankeyf could start soon
Relocation of people living around Hasankeyf could start soon
It looks like the count down for the relocation plan involving villagers living in the district of Hasankeyf has started. According to some reports, the 596 families said to be 'entitled' to new houses by the DSI (General Directorate of Waterworks), will soon have to move. June is the deadline.
"New Ilisu" as the new estates are called, will also host a cultural park and a museum for preserving the soon-to-be-flooded ten thousand years of Hasankeyf. In other words, according to reports quoting government officials, Hasankeyf will be rebuilt, replicate on new soil. Well, part of it. The museum will hold in fact finds of future archaeological excavations, while the historical bridge on the river Tigris and the El-Rizk Mosque will actually be replicated in the new location. No words, but you could not expect any given that the project will flood the ancient city, about the marvels which date back ten thousand years. Hasankeyf which Unesco recognised as a protect zone, seems to have her destiny written. Profit before history, money before culture, and above all before people.
The Ilýsu Dam on the Tigris River is one of 21 dams being constructed as part of the controversial Southeastern Anatolia Project, or GAP, Turkey's largest regional development project. According to the Environment Ministry data, the dam will be the country’s second largest after the Atatürk Dam and will generate nearly 4 billion kilowatts per hour of electricity annually. The government said the dam would last 340 years and employ 800,000 people.
Those who oppose the project (and they have been growing in the past 15 years) say the plan to build the dam never included an environmental analysis.The dam project will inundate Hasankeyf, a historical site in Batman province dating back 10,000 years. It was declared a natural conservation area in 1981. The dam will erase more than 80 villages and hamlets by the time of its planned completion in 2013.
In recent years the future of the controversial Turkish Ilisu dam was in doubt especially after the British builders Balfour Beatty pulled out of its construction. The company had delighted green campaigners by saying the £2bn scheme had failed to meet ethical, environmental or even commercial criteria.
The Austrian company Andritz AG so looks set to be the only European company to remain within the controversial Ilisu dam project on the Tigris river in south-eastern Turkey. Alstom (FR/CH) and Züblin (D/AUT), who were also supposed to be involved in the construction of the dam have now finally pulled out of the project. This appears in a report from the Czech General Consulate in Turkey. According to the report, Andritz will take over the contracts of Alstom, Züblin's work will be carried out through Turkish companies. After the withdrawal of three European banks in July 2009, a part of the missing financing for the project will, be taken over by Turkish Halkbank in Bahrain. Just recently an examination of the construction site by ECA Watch Austria showed that heavy construction work has restarted. Even according to Turkish law this activity must be illegal, as the contracts were awarded to the international consortium including the European firms. At the moment dam critics' lawyers are investigating legal avenues to stop the work. The Turkish water agency DSI argues, that the Consortium has not changed, as Andritz is still involved.
This shows that Andritz can now make the difference. The decision makers at Andritz, especially the head of the company Wolfgang Leitner, are in a rare position: their involvement or withdrawal can decide about the destruction or the preservation of this region with its unique natural landscape and cultural heritage and about the future of 70.000 people. "If Andritz quits their contracts as well, the construction has to be halted and there has to be a new call for tenders”, says Ulrich Eichelmann from ECA Watch Austria, who just returned from the Tigris.
Already in July 2009 Germany, Austria and Switzerland, who had granted state guarantees, pulled out of Ilisu, after having monitored the project for several years. The reasons for their withdrawal were that Turkey had not fulfilled project conditions concerning environment, resettlement and cultural heritage and the expected impacts of the project. The European banks followed this step by withdrawing their loans of approximately 500 million Euro in total.
"New Ilisu" as the new estates are called, will also host a cultural park and a museum for preserving the soon-to-be-flooded ten thousand years of Hasankeyf. In other words, according to reports quoting government officials, Hasankeyf will be rebuilt, replicate on new soil. Well, part of it. The museum will hold in fact finds of future archaeological excavations, while the historical bridge on the river Tigris and the El-Rizk Mosque will actually be replicated in the new location. No words, but you could not expect any given that the project will flood the ancient city, about the marvels which date back ten thousand years. Hasankeyf which Unesco recognised as a protect zone, seems to have her destiny written. Profit before history, money before culture, and above all before people.
The Ilýsu Dam on the Tigris River is one of 21 dams being constructed as part of the controversial Southeastern Anatolia Project, or GAP, Turkey's largest regional development project. According to the Environment Ministry data, the dam will be the country’s second largest after the Atatürk Dam and will generate nearly 4 billion kilowatts per hour of electricity annually. The government said the dam would last 340 years and employ 800,000 people.
Those who oppose the project (and they have been growing in the past 15 years) say the plan to build the dam never included an environmental analysis.The dam project will inundate Hasankeyf, a historical site in Batman province dating back 10,000 years. It was declared a natural conservation area in 1981. The dam will erase more than 80 villages and hamlets by the time of its planned completion in 2013.
In recent years the future of the controversial Turkish Ilisu dam was in doubt especially after the British builders Balfour Beatty pulled out of its construction. The company had delighted green campaigners by saying the £2bn scheme had failed to meet ethical, environmental or even commercial criteria.
The Austrian company Andritz AG so looks set to be the only European company to remain within the controversial Ilisu dam project on the Tigris river in south-eastern Turkey. Alstom (FR/CH) and Züblin (D/AUT), who were also supposed to be involved in the construction of the dam have now finally pulled out of the project. This appears in a report from the Czech General Consulate in Turkey. According to the report, Andritz will take over the contracts of Alstom, Züblin's work will be carried out through Turkish companies. After the withdrawal of three European banks in July 2009, a part of the missing financing for the project will, be taken over by Turkish Halkbank in Bahrain. Just recently an examination of the construction site by ECA Watch Austria showed that heavy construction work has restarted. Even according to Turkish law this activity must be illegal, as the contracts were awarded to the international consortium including the European firms. At the moment dam critics' lawyers are investigating legal avenues to stop the work. The Turkish water agency DSI argues, that the Consortium has not changed, as Andritz is still involved.
This shows that Andritz can now make the difference. The decision makers at Andritz, especially the head of the company Wolfgang Leitner, are in a rare position: their involvement or withdrawal can decide about the destruction or the preservation of this region with its unique natural landscape and cultural heritage and about the future of 70.000 people. "If Andritz quits their contracts as well, the construction has to be halted and there has to be a new call for tenders”, says Ulrich Eichelmann from ECA Watch Austria, who just returned from the Tigris.
Already in July 2009 Germany, Austria and Switzerland, who had granted state guarantees, pulled out of Ilisu, after having monitored the project for several years. The reasons for their withdrawal were that Turkey had not fulfilled project conditions concerning environment, resettlement and cultural heritage and the expected impacts of the project. The European banks followed this step by withdrawing their loans of approximately 500 million Euro in total.
