Help 1000's of Ilisu Dam-affected people in Turkey

Dear Friends and Supporters,

Despite the withdrawal of European funding, The Turkish Government has announced that it will resume construction of the Ilisu Dam. The two professed goals of the South East Anatolia Project (GAP in its Turkish acronym) of which the Ilisu Dam is part, are harvesting energy and creating more irrigated farm land, thereby increasing employment rates and standards of living.  However, studies of the future sites and experience from currently operating dams indicate that the project will be unable to achieve these economic goals. Furthermore, Kurdish villagers and farmers will be unable to benefit from any economic growth because they will be displaced from their homes to the shanty towns of nearby cities such as Diyarbakir and Hakkari, which already suffer from poor infrastructure, over-population, unemployment and poverty.

Neither the affected communities, nor the cities hosting those displaced, have been involved in any meaningful consultation about the dam project. Although the Turkish Government’s State Hydraulics Works Department professes local support, numerous fact-finding missions undertaken by KHRP and its partners in the region, have found that many villagers have not even been informed about the project, while others are adamantly against the project.

“All the dams that have been constructed to date show the same pattern: there is no meaningful participation of the affected population, compensation levels are not sufficient to restore livelihoods, and income restoration programs have not been created”, states Ercan Ayboga, a spokesperson from the Project’s regional partner, the Initiative to Keep Hasankeyf Alive.

In May 2011 the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) will assess Turkey's compliance with these rights and publish recommendations. Last year, the project submitted a report last year to the Pre-sessional Working Group ahead of Turkey’s review, to draw attention to several significant areas where the Turkish government has failed to carry out its obligations under the ICESCR in upholding the rights of its Kurdish citizens, including concerns about the effect of large scale infrastructure projects on economic social and cultural rights in the south-east of Turkey.

In 2011, the project will be focusing on protecting the rights and building the skills of those human rights defenders who are representing the affected communities, as they are often targeted by the state for their work. It will monitor the outcome of the CESCR review in May and raise the issue of the dam in international forums such as the European Parliament and the UN.

Do you want to find out more?         

Watch these two beautiful short films about the town of Hasankeyf and the impact that the dam will have on its inhabitants:

Life in Limbo by Sakae Ishikawa, 2009 -Excerpt 1.56 mins

Sinking History –Turkey by Mauro Colombo, 26.33 mins

What can you do?    

1. If you a customer of one of the banks involved, please write individual letters to the management and ask them to withdraw from the project. You can also consider moving your account.

The following banks provide finance to the Ilisu project: 

• GarantiBank (partly owned by Citi Bank)
• Akbank (partly owned by BBVA)
• Halkbank

2. Help to raise awareness by informing your friends, acquaintances and work colleagues about the project.

3. Contact us for more information and write an article or letter for your local or national newspaper.

4. If you are visiting Turkey, go to Hasankeyf and see for yourself the beauty of the region that is at risk. Tourism is a viable option for the region and one that has not been fully explored or invested in by the government.