FightING ILISU DAM  - SAVE HASANKEYF AND TIGRIS VALLEY

Welcome to the Homepage of the „Initative to Keep Hasankeyf Alive“

RECOMMENDATIONS

1.      There is no absolutely necessary conflict between development investment and projects for the conservation of historical and cultural heritage. It is possible to take steps for the conservation of historical and cultural heritage, and optimum solutions can be found by including the stake holders to the project in the process.

2.      The solutions that achieve highest benefits are those elaborated on the basis of compromises by relevant interest groups and stake holders. Whatever their substance and importance are, decisions pertaining to energy investment should not be taken from above in societies with a claim to democratisation.

3.      Assessment of the location of the dam should be open to the public and the authorities should explain how they excluded the nine other options and decided Hasankeyf as the site of the dam. Appearently, the nine alternative dam sites were excluded due to considerations that the measures to prevent water leakage in carstic holes in Midyat limestone structures, which would have negative cost implications for the project. However, the decided site is a larger terrain with a obtuse valley cut. This will mean that the body of the dam will have a longitude of 1.810 km, a height of 135 m and a reservoir capacity of 44 million m3. The cost implication is that almost all the project budget will be spend for constructing this huge body of the dam. This is a very high cost for such a project. It is obvious that the sub-items of construction in such a huge project, such as the transportation of stones, have the highest profit rate, and this presents for the sub-contracting consortium a very attractive financial picture, whatever the negative implications for the feasibility of the project are. On the other hand, the other site options include lower costs for the body of the dam but the costs of the containment of water leakage will be higher. Therefore, we recommend that all the ten options for the site of the dam should be publicly discussed, taking into consideration all aspects of the constuction costs, and that the public should be convinced that the principal factor in deciding the site is not the interests of the consortium but the public interest.

4.      It is estimated that, if the height of the body of the dam is lowered with a view to avoid Hasanekyf to be drowned under waters, the dam will have a hydropower generation capacity of 600 MW instead of the projected hydropower generation capacity of 1200 MW. However, a decrease of this magnitute will also reduce the construction costs relative to the power generation loss in the sense that the amount of investment per the energy unit to be generated will also decrease. The Ilısu Dam is the most expensive one compared to all other GAP dams. The Ilısu Dam will be the power plant with the lowest load factor, and, thus, it will be the one with the highest rate of investment per a unit of enery generated by it. Therefore, it should be open to public debate how its economic feasibility is affected by its magnitude to an extent that it will destroy the historical site of Hasankeyf. We understand that a modification in its size will both save Hasankeyf and improve the feasibility of the project.

5.      The idea of relocating the historical monuments of Hasankeyf is impossible in view of both the properties of these structures and the fact that the completion of the excavation here will take another 40-50 years. The projects to relocate these structures will be illusionary. The relocation strategy should be entirely abandoned.

6.      We reject the attitude of authorities in watching the destruction of Hasankeyf while avoiding their responsibilities and complaining about various difficulties here. We expect urgent internvention in Hasankeyf excavation activities and better resource alocation for these activities.

7.      We need to respond through systematic and long-term activities to the misinformative and unfounded propaganda campaign launched by national and international corporations, who expect large profits from this project and are determined to achieve it despite any local resistance. While emotional responses may be a natural reflection of the regional communities, we need to go beyond such responses by promoting alternatives to destruction and relocation models nationally and internationally and by organising a counter-propaganda strategy. The present symposium demonstrates that there is a good potential by gathering young experts who rely on social responsibilities.

8.      We will immediately submit an application to Diyarbakir Board for the Conservation of  Cultural and Natural Assets for an evaluation of the project, and initiate discussions with the authorities in Ankara and request the regional members of the parliament to bring the issue to the Turkish Grand National Assembly.

9.      As Hasankeyf is not only a regional or national value but part of the universal heritage of humanity, which falls under Turkey’s interrnational law obligations in connection with the ratified agreements, the struggle to save Hasankeyf will be carried to the agenda of UNESCO, the Council of Europe, the European Union and the Pan-European Federation for Cultural Heritage (EUROPA-NOSTRA).

10.  Hasankeyf has become a symbol for the conservation of the cultural heritage of Southeast Anatolia beyond its of historical significance. A mutual understanding in this regards will contribute as a symbolic value to the improvement of the climate of peace and reciprocal thrust between different ethnic, religious and cultural communities.

11.  A rational debate on how to open Hasankeyf and the region in general to cultural tourism, on how to produce more knowledge from the sites in the region and make room for retuning that knowledge to the region will be possible only after a final and negative decision is made on the Ilısu Dam Project, which is insistently kept pending, with negative implications for the cultural life in the region.