Yusufeli Dam (Turkey): Blackmail over lowered standards because of the Ilisu dam
Les Amis de la Terre, Paris, 30 October 2007
Original French press release
Following a site visit, a new report (1) highlights the persistent violation of social and environmental standards with respect to the Yusufeli dam in Turkey. The two official export credit agencies (ECAs) involved in financing the dam, Coface of France and SERV of Switzerland must thus refuse the project. But the guarantee granted this summer by the ECAs of Switzerland, Germany and Austria for another very controversial Turkish dam, Illisu, created pressures to lower the standards for Yusufeli, and also the standards of the OECD which these ECAs must respect. At the very moment of the Grenelle of the Environment discussions in France, the Bern Declaration and the Friends of the Earth insist that France firmly refuse this inadmissable race to the bottom.
The report published today, based on interviews in the town of Yusufeli and surrounding villages, brings evidence of non respect by the dam of the OECD standards and the specific conditions imposed by the French Finance Ministry for this project. In particular:
- 75% of the sites for the resettlement of 12,000 people displaced by force are located in arid and uninhabitable mountainous zones (2);
- financial compensation offered for the lost land is much lower than the estimates, because Turkey takes into account only land area, and not the economic activities practiced on that land today (agriculture, restaurants, trade, thermal baths, etc). The sums are insufficient to start a new life in resettlement areas;
- no precise programme exists to create income generating activities in order to compensate for the economic losses of the inhabitants;
- no official follow-up mechanism is envisaged to monitor whether the conditions imposed by ECAs on the project are met.
Turkey uses as an argument to pressure for French approval, the agreement given this summer to the Ilisu dam, also in Turkey, by the ECAs of Switzerland, Germany and Austria. A new site report for Ilisu (3) has just shown that the Ilisu dam seriously violates OECD standards as well as the 150 social and environmental conditions envisaged for the dam. These three European ECAs thus are creating pressures to lower the standards of Coface in the Yusufeli project, and thus on those of the OECD in general.
Christine Eberlein of the Swiss NGO Berne Declaration explains: "Turkey said for Yusufeli that it will respect the standards of OECD once the guarantee is granted. But it is this exactly what it had promised for the Ilisu dam, where enormous modifications are already appearing; e.g. populations have been expelled without compensation. Concretely, Turkey rejects the international standards to which it had engaged. The official export credit agencies of Switzerland, Germany and Austria refuse to acknowledge this publicly, but they are conscious of the extent of the problems. They must act responsibly and block their guarantee with the Ilisu dam, as that is what is required if standards are violated."
Sebastien Godinot of the Friends of the Earth is furious: "At the very moment of the multi-stakeholder Grenelle of the Environment negotiations, we insist that France not yield to this Turkish blackmail and the race to the bottom played by Switzerland, Germany and Austria. France must respect international standards and refuse to guarantee the Yusufeli dam project as long as Turkey does not respect these standards and conditions. It must also knock on the door of the OECD, which co-ordinates the official export credit agencies of the rich countries, and denounce this inadmissible game of Germany, Switzerland and Austria, which drives down costs to become the lowest bidder and violates the OECD's collectively negotiated standards. If not, European countries will not be able to claim greater social and environmental values in their export standards over those of China". Turkey plans to lay the first stone of the dam at the time of its national festival, on October 29, next Monday.
Press Contacts:
The Bern Declaration (Switzerland): Christine Eberlein, +41 (0) 44.277 70 08
Friends of the Earth (France): Caroline Prak, Friends of the Earth, +33 (0)1 48 51 32 22 or +33 (0)6 86 41 53 43
1) Report: Fact finding Mission to Yusufeli, Christine Eberlein, the Berne Declaration, October 2007
2) See photos in the report
3) See http://www.evb.ch/fr/p5184.html