Turkey to build disputed dam despite Euro snub

Turkey to build disputed dam despite Euro snub
By Agence France Presse (AFP)
April 20, 2010

HASANKEYF, Turkey: Turkey has secured the support of a local bank to
build a dam on a major historic site on the Tigris River, overriding
harsh opposition at home and snubs by European lenders.

The head of Turkey?s Akbank said last week that the company would help
finance the construction, but not without a sense of discomfort for
backing a project which, critics say, will displace 54,000 people and
submerge millenia-old archaeological remains.

?Banks make only financial considerations when joining such projects.
But the Ilisu dam will be the last such example for us ? From now on we
will pay attention also to environmental aspects,? Suzan Sabanci Dincer
told the Vatan newspaper.

Another major Turkish bank, Garanti, is also reportedly planning to
extend financial support for the construction.

At the core of opposition to the Ilisu dam is Hasankeyf, an impoverished
town on the banks of the Tigris, once a mighty city in ancient
Mesopotamia, which will be largely submerged by the dam?s giant reservoir.

Critics say the dam, to be completed with a 1,200-megawatt power plant,
will destroy Hasankeyf?s unique historical remains and ruin the
traditional lifestyle of its population of ethnic Kurds and Arabs.

The local administration, and environmental groups, who have joined
forces in a campaign to stop the project, gathered in Hasankeyf on April
11 for a conference to drum up support against the government.

?This project threatens 214 archaeological sites,? historian Adnan Cevik
told AFP, pointing at the ruins of a 13th-century fortress on a hill
overlooking the Tigris, dotted by hundreds of ancient cave houses.

?There are remains from prehistoric, Hellenic, Assyrian, Sassanid, Roman
and pre-Ottoman times here,? he said, as tourists climbed the hill to
take respite in the tiny compounds carved into the rocks, which now
serve as cafes.

Proponents say the dam, part of a broader plan to boost economic
development in the poor, mainly Kurdish southeast, will create up to
10,000 jobs, irrigate vast areas of farmland and provide vital energy
for the economy.

But Hasankeyf?s 4,000 residents, backed by civic groups, maintain they
can prosper on revenues from tourism, pushing a petition campaign to
have the town included on UNESCO?s list of world heritage and deter
banks from financing the dam.

?We are here at the door of Mesopotamia. This place is an unbelievable
combination of nature and culture,? said Guven Eken, head of the
environmental group Doga.

In July, Swiss, Austrian and German agencies withdrew a pledge for 1.2
billion euros? ($1.6 billion) worth of loan guarantees, saying Ankara
had failed to answer concerns on how environment and cultural heritage
would be protected.

The lenders cited an independent study that the project did not meet
World Bank criteria, prompting an angry response from Turkey, a
candidate for EU membership, that the decision was ?political.?

Turkey has 172 hydroelectric plants, which meet 17 percent of its power
demand, and 148 more are under construction, according to official figures.

Lawyer Murat Cano, part of a legal team which has petitioned the
European Court of Human Rights to block the project, argued that
Ankara?s environmental record was already poor, citing a number of dams
built on the Euphrates, which also originates in Turkey.

?The Euphrates is already destroyed and now they are targeting the
Tigris,? he grumbled.

The activist argued that Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan was
?personally following? the project and ?seeking financial help from Arab
countries since the support of Akbank and Garanti will not be enough.?