Dam project in south-eastern Turkey stalls amidst controversy
By Justin Hyatt
The setting should be familiar: A government with poor ecological credentials attempts to push through a costly and controversial development project. This meets strong resistance from the local population, as well as from the international community. The outcome is uncertain, and an ancient town is threatened with destruction. Such is the backdrop for Turkey's Ilisu Dam project.
SITTING TARGET: Dam construction puts the ancient site of Hasankeyf at risk of being submerged. Photos by Justin Hyatt
Land of antiquity
SITTING TARGET: Dam construction puts the ancient site of Hasankeyf at risk of being submerged. Photos by Justin Hyatt
If we travel back in time to ancient Mesopotamia, we arrive at the Fertile Crescent, the "cradle of civilisation" - a territory that has served humankind since its very beginnings. We are in the rugged and mountainous Middle East, but which also contains a large swathe of abundantly fruitful soil, an agricultural boon and provider of life nourished by the mighty Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Numerous peoples have called this place home throughout history: Sumerians, Akkadians, Babylonians and Assyrians; later, Persians, Arabs, Kurds and Turks. Remember the Silk Road?
Now fast-forward to the present. Descendants of ancient societies populate the region today, and we find a multitude of remnants from bygone civilisations. And the Tigris and Euphrates still flow, from their starting points in eastern Turkey, then through Syria and into Iraq.
One of the defining aspects of development in this region is the construction of major dams all along the waterways of the Tigris and Euphrates - mainly in Turkey, but also further downstream. In 1992 the Ataturk dam was completed, one of the largest dams in the world. Beyond this, 22 other dams have either been built or planned as part of the South-Eastern Anatolia Project (GAP). GAP, launched in 1977, carries a budget of 48 billion Turkish lira (EUR 21.5 billion). Expenditures include coverage for 80 percent of its energy construction projects.
Energy at a cost
The next largest GAP project after Ataturk, and the largest unfinished one, is the Ilisu Dam. Its designated location is on the Tigris River in south-east Turkey, in the Ilisu village south-east of Batman, which lies just to the north of Syria and Iraq. The project is quite controversial due to the certain destruction it would bring to the ancient town of Hasankeyf, as well as nearly 200 other settlements. The possibly affected waterways, including the Tigris, are 400 kilometres in length.
The highest levels of government have repeatedly expressed commitment to the project - i.e. an energy-producing dam, but one not useful for irrigation. The State Water Works (DSI) is the project's principle driver.
The government claims that the project would bring employment and other benefits to the region, though Bilal Gumus, a university professor and member of the Electrical Engineering Chamber, claims that the dam would provide permanent employment for 200-250 persons maximum, and would not be very efficient. Gumus also notes that reservoir sedimentation would likely make the dam obsolete in 50-60 years' time.
In terms of positive numbers, the dam would create a 313 square kilometre reservoir, carrying a 1,200 MW capacity and delivering an annual energy yield of 3,800 gigawatt hours. According to a 2001 study at the Technical University in Zurich, the estimated cost of Ilisu Dam energy would be equivalent to USD 1,300 per kilowatt, which by industry standards is expensive.
Gumus and others have put forward the suggestion that alternative energy - with solar power at the top of the list - should be given greater consideration as far as future developments in the region are concerned. The south-east Anatolian region receives the most sunshine in all of Turkey - just short of 3,000 hours annually - a high figure packing lots of potential. Both solar-powered irrigation systems and solar houses should be put on the drawing board, according to Gumus.
The half-won battle
Initially, European financial institutions were to finance the Ilisu Dam project, with Bank Austria, DekaBank and Societe Generale pledging their support, but IFI support was withdrawn in July. The World Bank, meanwhile, decided as early on as 1984 not to get involved in GAP water projects.
"The Ilisu project] project failed to meet five World Bank guidelines on 18 accounts," Rivernet.org reported. "According to World Bank expert Robert Goodland, if European states would support the project, it would undermine World Bank standards, and set a bad example."
Officially, the IFIs pulled out because Turkey failed to meet 153 criteria applied to the existing plans, laid out by respective European governments. The criteria (also known as "Terms of Reference") are divided into four sections: resettlement, environment, cultural heritage and international relations.
Doga Dernegi has launched a major publicity campaign to prevent the dam's construction, and has applied constant pressure on the government to this end. It has built an office and information centre in Hasankeyf, and pop icon Tarkan was on hand to officially open the facility.
"Our strategy is to advance a major media campaign with big names, to show everyone in Turkey and abroad that our nationally beloved public figures do not want the dam, and neither do we," said Erkut Erturk, campaign coordinator for Doga Dernegi. Indeed, Nobel Prize-winning writer Orhan Pamuk famous singers Sezen Aksu and Aynur Dogan have all offered their help. Given that the government has portrayed dam opponents as anything from traitors to terrorists, such high-profile opposition is nothing to sneeze at.
Doga Dernegi's nature conservation and cultural heritage campaign has selected its own "poster animal" - the threatened Euphrates Soft Shell Turtle (Rafetus euphraticus). This and at least 40 other unique plant and animal species inhabiting the Tigris River region would be endangered by the dam, as much of their habitat would be submerged. The dam would also jeopardise seasonal migration habits of some species - the turtles included - along the river.
Hasankeyf under threat
The "Initiative to Keep Hasankeyf Alive" focuses additionally on cultural and human rights aspects of the dam project. Three-hundred archaeological sites are threatened, including Hasankeyf's various ancient treasures: ornate mosques, churches, cave dwellings, Islamic tombs and 900-year-old remnants of the Tigris Bridge. Hasankeyf, according to some estimates, is 12,000 years old.
Local impacts and resettlement
Although work on the dam came to an abrupt halt when the IFIs pulled out in July of 2009, the Turkish government continues to build new villages for potentially displaced persons. Ipek Tasli from the "Initiative to Keep Hasankeyf Alive" claims that up to 55,000 people would be displaced by the project (with that number swelling to 85,000 or 100,000 when including nomads from the region), and that the project therefore entails human rights violations.
"If the Turkish government goes ahead and builds the dam, all with its own money, it will be a double disaster," Tasli warns, arguing that corners will be cut without international financing and oversight, and that any resulting damages are likely cut that much deeper.
While the Ilisu consortium did prepare an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) in 2005, organisations such as WWF Austria, "Initiative to Keep Hasankeyf Alive" and Doga Dernegi criticised the comprehensiveness of the EIA, stating that affected persons and organisations were not involved in the process. A survey conducted in 2006 by the "Social Support for Migrants and the culture of Batman" association points to a figure of 83 percent of the surveyed local population as opposing the dam and the associated relocations.
Iraq also to be affected
While there are some international agreements regarding the threshold of water discharge, nothing is legally binding. Rasul would like to see the UN come forward with an international law for sharing water. However, Turkey has been reluctant to comply with the needs of its southern neighbours - a trait considered by some as evident in view of the previous construction of the Ataturk Dam. In 1987, Turkey agreed to provide Syria with 500 m3/s, compared to a pre-dam annual flow of 800 m3/s.
International Support
European organisations have also stepped in to stop Ilisu. Foremost among them is ECA Watch Austria, which has been joined by CounterCurrent, the "Berne Declaration" and several others. On March 21, International Rivers, Oxfam International and Friends of the Earth bestowed the "Free Rivers" prize to the "Initiative to Keep Hasankeyf Alive". The prize was awarded at the Alternative Water Forum, a parallel event to the 5th World Water Forum, which took place in Istanbul.
While the Turkish government and the Ministry of Culture and Tourism have made no efforts to add Hasankeyf to UNESCO's World Heritage list, Doga Dernegi and "Keep Hasankeyf Alive" have initiated a petition to do just that, as it would further bolster claims to protect the town at all costs.
The year 2009 has brought numerous developments on all fronts, and there is an ever-increasing level of support from Turkish and international media. Thus Erturk believes that this year will be a fateful one for Hasankeyf. "NGO pressure is key," he says.
With so much at atake, Tasli is cautiously optimistic. "When you put all of the pieces together, it should be quite difficult to actually make Ilisu happen," the young activist concludes, citing the lack of strong funding options for the project and robust levels of resistance during a time of economic recession. But the outcome is still far from settled.
