Information in: Español - Français - Deutsch - Português - Russian - Japanese - Svenska - Italiano - Suomi

Turkish Communities Ask EU to Watch Ilisu Dam

ECA Watch Press Release

June 16, 2005 — ECA Watch campaign participants FERN and WEED have announced that delegates from Turkey have come to Brussels to ask the EU to keep a close eye on the planned Ilisu dam.

A delegation of representatives from the region Hasankeyf/ Diyarbakir in Southeast Turkey visited Brussels from 15 to 17 June, 2005, to discuss the planned Ilisu dam project [1] in the context of Turkey’s process of accession to the European Union. The Ilisu dam is a hydroelectric project on the river Tigris in the Kurdish region of Southeast Anatolia. If built, it would displace up to 78,000 people and submerge the historic town of Hasankeyf [2]. It is expected that the dam would cause serious environmental pollution, health problems and curtail the downstream flow of water to Iraq and Syria – both countries appear not to have been consulted about the plans. The region in which the Ilisu dam is to be build has been and continues to be characterised by the repression of its Kurdish majority. The failure to adequately take this history of conflict and human rights violations into account has been a central point of contention of the original project plans and impact assessments.

The planned dam achieved international infamy when it was first considered by European companies from 2000 and 2002 because of the serious economic, social, environmental and cultural concerns which ultimately lead to the collapse of the business consortium in 2002. Now the Ilisu dam is back on the agenda. Since May 2004, a new consortium of companies – lead by Austrian VA Tech / Siemens – is getting together to build the discredited dam.

The delegates from Turkey claim that EU standards, with regard to environmental and cultural heritage guidelines and directives but also in terms of respect for the rights of affected communities, are not being met by the project. In several meetings with Commission officials and Members of the European Parliament the delegates from Tureky will urge the EU to investigate the compliance of the Ilisu dam with EU environmental and human rights standards.

Arif Arslan, head of the committee to save ancient Hasankeyf, said: “The dam a disaster for the region and its people. We are witnessing the sacrifice of 12,000 years of history and the potential for sustainable economic development through tourism for what would at best yield short-term economic return.” Handan Coskun from the women’s organization DIKASUM (Diyarbakir Women’s Problems Research and Applications Centre) adds: “In this culture of repression by the security forces and neglect by the State in Southeast Turkey it is hard to see how a just outcome to the project based on free and fair consultation would be possible. Women in particular suffer immensely from this situation yet their views are not being considered in the planning for the Ilisu dam. It is vital that the European Commission talks to women’s organisations in the region when assessing Turkey’s progress towards accession.” Oezguer Guerbuez, Energy Campaigner of Greenpeace Mediterranean criticises the energy policy behind these contracts: “Why are European companies still exporting outdated technology – like large dams and now even nuclear reactors – to Turkey? Turkey has enormous potential for real renewable energy, yet none of these options have been seriously considered as an alternative to the dam”.

No clarity as to where the financing for Ilisu will come from exists so far but two export credit agencies [3] have been approached for supporting the project – ERG (Exportkreditgarantie) in Switzerland and OeKB (Oesterreichische Kontrollbank) in Austria. Judith Neyer, co-ordinator of the European ECA Reform Campaign [4] comments: “The documents and plans that form the basis of the Ilisu dam remain essentially the same as in 2002, when the project had to be cancelled due to serious deficiencies in planning. Affected communities have not been consulted about renewed plans to build the dam. When will European export credit agencies stop supporting this type of project with public money?”

For more information and to arrange interviews with delegates please contact:

Judith Neyer, FERN, +32-498-521604, judith at fern.org;

Andrea Ploeger, WEED, +49-176-24544762, ecas at weed-online.org

Notes:

[1] The proposed Ilisu dam is part of the larger USD 35B Sout-eastern Anatolia Development Project (GAP). The dam is designed to be 138 meters high and expected to produce up to 3800 GW/h in electricity.

[2] The ancient town of Hasankeyf, culturally important to many Kurdish people, is a rich treasure of Assyrian, Christian, Abassidian-Islamic and Osmanian history in Turkey. The town was awarded complete archeological protection by the Turkish department of culture in 1978. Numerous cultural experts and activists in Turkey and abroad have appealed to the national authorities and the foreign companies to save Hasankeyf by changing the design of the dam.

[3] Export credit agencies and investment insurance agencies – ECAs - provide government-backed loans, guarantees and insurance to corporations seeking business opportunities in developing countries or emerging markets that are considered too risky (commercially or politically) for conventional corporate financing. ECAs are mostly national, public or publicly mandated agencies that usually support companies from their home country. Most ECAs don’t take into consideration the impacts of the projects they support on the environment or the rights of local peoples, undermining their governments’ commitments to sustainable development.

[4] The European ECA Reform Campaign brings together a coalition of organisations including Bern Declaration (Switzerland), Both ENDS (The Netherlands), The Corner House (UK), ECA-Watch Austria, FERN (EU), Finnish ECA Reform Campaign, Iberian ECA Reform Campaign (Spain and Portugal), Les Amis de la Terre (France), Proyecto Gato (Belgium), Reform the World Bank Campaign (Italy), Swedish Society for the Conservation of Nature, Finnish Association for Nature Conservation, Urgewald (Germany) and WEED (Germany).