European Export Credit Agencies Hold "Secret" Meeting to Advance Ilisu Dam

(ECA Watch, Ottawa, 29 May 2008) The export credit agencies (ECAs) of Germany, Austria and Switzerland held meetings in Vienna on May 13-14, 2008 to try to overcome Turkey's failure to meet conditions imposed by the 3 OECD ECAs prior to approval of funding for the controversial project, the construction of which has already begun.

Protests were held across Europe on International Rivers Day, March 14, 2008 to highlight a damning 13 February 2008 report from the Committee of Experts appointed to monitor Turkish compliance with some 150 conditions imposed by the three European ECAs before releasing financial support for the dam. At least 77 organisations from 20 countries, including France, Germany and Italy, are all urging the governmental and financial institutions to withdraw from the project. Several Austrian groups protested in front of Austria's OeKB during the May 13-14 meetings.

Amongst the conditions laid down by the terms of reference were requirements that local populations take part in decisions taken about how and where they will be resettled. During a public hearing on April 15, where according to the ToRs (ToR 17,18,31), the population should be able to take part in resettlement decisions, residents were merely informed about the energy ministry's plans. A German radio report noted that when residents at the meeting questioned the project itself, they were threatened and told that they don't stand a chance anyway since the dam is already under construction. Video footage of construction under way is available on the internet. (at 2:55 in a 4:38 clip)

In a telephone conversation with an NGO representative, an official of the Austrian OeKB said that Turkey's first response to the report was unsatisfactory. The 13-14 May meeting appears to have been an effort to salvage the project despite the Committee of Experts findings that key environmental studies are missing and that Turkish officials in charge of the project were completely unfamiliar with the additional social and environmental requirements which are conditions of loans to the project from European financial institutions.

Despite this, construction of the dam is already underway and the Swiss Ambassador to Turkey has stated that withdrawal from the project is not an option. The Committee of Experts has noted that this "phased" approach, whereby construction continues as negotiations continue to have Turkey meet environmental and social conditions, "will require vastly more time for its preparation than the limited amount of time that is left, according to the table proposed" by Turkey, and that "the consequence will be further delays, missed deadlines, and rushed work, with impacts on the quality of resettlement."

Citing the "phased" 1990-92 resettlement plan at the Narmada dam in India, (p.101) the Committee of Experts noted "The disastrous evolution of Narmada’s resettlement (the Bank’s largest resettlement failure in its history) forced the closure of the Bank’s participation in Narmada long before the project’s intended normal end... The World Bank converted the Narmada debacle into a source of lessons. No 'rolling plans' were subsequently accepted by the World Bank."

An international campaign is under way urging Dr. Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the German Secretary of State, to withdraw the German government's financial support for the Ilisu Dam project before it destroys the lives of the people and ancient history of Turkey.