A
controversial project to build a dam in Turkey has re-emerged, four
years after it collapsed when major backers pulled out.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
Erdogan is to attend an inauguration ceremony for the proposed Ilisu
dam on Saturday, despite continuing concerns over its impact on people
living in the area.
The dam - which would be the second largest in Turkey by volume of
water - is to be sited on the upper Tigris River, in the mainly Kurdish
south-east of the country.
The Turkish government says the project, planned for more than two
decades, will provide much-needed hydro-electric energy and jobs in
a poor region.
But opponents believe it will devastate the area's environment and
cultural heritage, as well as displacing more than 50,000 people.
Among hundreds of sites to be flooded would be the ancient town of
Hasankeyf, considered an archaeological treasure and home to at least
3,800 people.
Dozens of local government ministries, community groups and NGOs have
formed a coalition, the Initiative to Keep Hasankeyf Alive, to oppose
the dam.
Speaking from Diyarbakir, the region's main city, spokeswoman Caglayan
Ayhan said people were upset they had not been consulted about a project
that, if it goes ahead, could lose them their homes.
"We are really not happy about this - but no-one will listen
to us," she told the BBC News website.
"We want to show that Hasankeyf and its cultural heritage is
important for Turkey and the world, not only the people here.
"We are not resisting development - we are just saying, does
it have to be this way?"
Up to 10,000 people were expected to join a solidarity concert held
at Hasankeyf ahead of the symbolic ground-breaking ceremony, 100km
(60 miles) away in Ilisu village.
Resettlement fears
The protesters' biggest concern is what they see as inadequate plans
for resettling and compensating an estimated 55,000 to 78,000 people
displaced by the waters.
Some 199 settlements would be affected by the dam, Ms Ayhan said,
but the consultants who drew up the resettlement plans had access
to only limited information.
You go to Hasankeyf and you see the river and cliffs and caves - and
you see an ancient site that is still alive, with people living in
it
Campaigner Caglayan Ayhan
Many of those displaced would be likely to head for nearby Batman
and Diyarbakir, both of which have seen clashes between security forces
and Kurdish protesters in recent months.
The government plans to build a new town to re-house residents of
Hasankeyf - and has said it will preserve much of the site's heritage
in a "cultural park" open to tourists.
But opponents say little has changed since questions over planning
and legal issues caused the project's financial backing to collapse
four years ago.
British construction firm Balfour Beatty and Swiss bank UBS, part
of the European-Turkish consortium involved, pulled out amid international
concerns about the project's social and environmental impact.
ILISU DAM PLANS
Dam to be located on Tigris River, 45km from Syrian border
Height 135m, measuring 1,820m along the crest
Predicted average annual energy generation 3.833 billion kWh
Capacity to hold 11 billion cubic metres of water
Reservoir to cover 300,000 sq km
Projected completion date 2013 Source: Turkish energy ministry
A new consortium has now been formed, headed by Austrian firm VA Tech
Hydro, but its applications for export credit guarantees from the
Austrian, Swiss and German governments have not yet been decided.
NGOs in several countries are appealing for the guarantees - given
by governments to protect firms from risk in big overseas infrastructure
projects - not to be granted.
Heike Drillisch, spokeswoman for WEED, a German NGO campaigning on
environmental and development issues, said the project "clearly
violates all the international standards the export agencies have".
But, she said, campaigners fear the decision will be made on political
grounds, with European countries keen to access the Turkish market
and build good relations with Ankara.
Unfound treasures?
Maggie Ronayne, an archaeology lecturer at the National University
of Ireland, Galway, who has studied the area around Hasankeyf since
1999, has condemned the dam as a "weapon of mass cultural destruction".
At risk is not only Hasankeyf - thought to date back 10-12,000 years
and bearing evidence of Assyrian, Roman, Byzantine, Seljuk Turk and
Ottoman civilisations - but potentially thousands of sites yet to
be discovered.
She calculates only 20% of the area to be submerged has been surveyed
by archaeologists, with the government's own estimate only at 40%.
Although Hasankeyf has been protected under Turkish law since 1978,
the area has been largely inaccessible because of years of conflict
between government troops and Kurdish separatist forces.
Ms Ronayne warns that the region's many poverty-stricken women will
be those to suffer most, because they may not receive compensation
and will struggle to care for their families if displaced.
At stake is also the cultural heritage of the ethnic Kurdish people,
she said, as well as ancient Muslim and Christian sites.
Solution 'possible'
Kerim Yildiz, executive director of the London-based Kurdish Human
Rights Project, said it would be challenging the project in the international
courts.
Meanwhile, the European Court of Human Rights agreed last month to
hear an application against the dam lodged by archaeologists, journalists
and lawyers, who say Hasankeyf must be preserved in its natural state.
Ms Ayhan agrees: "You go to Hasankeyf and you see the river and
cliffs and caves - and you see an ancient site that is still alive,
with people living in it. It has incredible natural beauty, it's really
unique."
She remains optimistic the campaign will save Hasankeyf a second time.
"I think in a normal working democracy where people are listened
to... solutions can be found. But it may take a while."
