Turkish Dams Violate EU Standards and Human Rights

Assyrian International News Agency
April 21 2005

Plans for large dams in southeast Turkey including the discredited
Ilisu dam project may yet go ahead in spite of adverse impacts on
cultural and environmental rights, according to a new report by the
National University of Ireland, Galway and the Kurdish Human Rights
Project.

The report provides new evidence from hydroelectric dam projects
planned for the Munzur, Tigris and Greater Zap rivers.

The study, a report of a fact-finding mission to the region carried
out by Maggie Ronayne, Lecturer in Archaeology at the National
University of Ireland, Galway, demonstrates how archaeology in
particular supports the case of thousands of villagers adversely
affected by these projects, most of whom do not appear to have been
consulted at all about the dams and many of whom want to return to
reservoir areas, having already been displaced by the recent conflict
in the region….

The overwhelming response in particular from women and their
organisations is one of opposition to the negative impact on them and
those in their care; yet women have been the least consulted sector.

The reservoirs would submerge evidence for hundreds and potentially
thousands of ancient sites of international importance, including
evidence of our earliest origins as a species, the beginnings of
agriculture, and the remains of empires including those of Rome and
Assyria.

The heritage of Kurds, Armenians, Assyrians and others from the last
few hundred years and holy places from several traditions within the
Muslim and Christian faiths, many still used in religious practices
today and some dating from over 1000 years ago, will go under the
reservoir waters.

According to report author Maggie Ronayne: ‘The GAP development
project of which these dams are part is destroying a heritage which
belongs to the whole of humanity and contravenes the most basic
professional standards. Governments and companies involved with these
projects are ignoring its serious implications: the destruction of
such diverse cultural and religious heritage in a State with a
history of severe cultural repression. Turkey’s progress on cultural
rights for the Kurds and others has been an object of scrutiny in
recent years; the EU must consider cultural destruction on this scale
in that context.’

One of the major findings of the report is that there is a new
consortium of companies coming together to build the discredited
Ilisu Dam which would displace up to 78,000 mostly Kurdish people,
and would also potentially cut off downstream flows of water to Syria
and Iraq.

The ancient town of Hasankeyf, culturally important to many Kurdish
people and of international archaeological significance, will not be
saved by new plans to build the dam despite the promises of the
Turkish prime minister and the would-be dam builders.

In any case, the cultural impacts of Ilisu are much greater than this
one very important town.

>>From 2000 to 2002, campaigners, human rights and environmental groups
and affected communities successfully exposed fundamental flaws in
project documents and plans for Ilisu, which contributed to the
collapse of the last consortium of companies planning to build it.
But the basis for the project this time remains essentially the same.

Kerim Yildiz, Executive Director of the Kurdish Human Rights Project
commented: ‘It seems that the Turkish State has not learned the
lessons of Ilisu: the report finds that a range of international laws
and standards are not being adhered to. EU standards in particular
are met by none of the projects. The study also shows that while
there have been some improvements and legal reforms, torture remains
an administrative practice of the State. If this is the climate in
which people are to be consulted about the dams, then we can only
conclude that any fair outcome for the public appears most unlikely.
The GAP development project examined in this study raises serious
questions regarding Turkey’s process of accession to the EU.’

Contact:

Maggie Ronayne, Department of Archaeology, National University of
Ireland, Galway, Ireland. Tel: 00 353 91 512298 or 00 353 (0) 87
7838688 (mobile) Email: maggie.ronayne@nuigalway.ie

Kerim Yildiz / Rochelle Harris, Kurdish Human Rights Project, London,
Tel: +44 (0)207 287-2772. Email: khrp@khrp.org