ROME 18 JULY 2008

Members of the Italian campaign against the building of Ilisu dam in Turkish Kurdistan met yesterday, 17 July 2008, at 11 am in the Piazza Cordusio, Milan in front of the headquarters of Unicredit bank. The activists built a dam made of cardboard in the Piazza (see photo) and wrote on it the slogan “Unicredit Out – of the Ilisu Dam project”. Their objective was to ask the bank, led by Profumo, to withdraw it's funding for the project. A subsidiary of Unicredit, Bank of Austria, is in fact one of the banks interested in supporting the project to the tune of 280 million euros. If the dam is built, 12,000 years of history would be deleted forever, an inestimable heritage of Kurdish culture and of all humanity, will be permanently destroyed and more than 55,000 people, mainly Kurdish, forced to leave their houses and villages, which would be submerged.

The demonstration was a peaceful event, enriched by the enthusiasm and slogans of all the participants. A great number of passers-by were interested in the event, paying attention to the flyers informing about the case of Ilisu dam.

Another important aim was to disseminate the legal advice provided by lawyers consulted by the associations. Thanks to the interest of newspapers and televisions covering the event, and the support of Italian MEP Mr Vittorio Agnoletto, a delegation of activists was received by a group of Unicredit bank officials and they fixed a date for a meeting with their respective lawyers to discuss the reasons why the network is against the Ilisu project.

The campaign is promoted by 19 Italian Associations:

CRBM (Campaign for Reform of the World Bank);

Associazione culturale universitaria Pangea (Napoli);

Associazione verso il Kurdistan (Alessandria);

Un ponte per (nazionale);

Cecina Social Forum (LI);

Arci (nazionale);

Ass. Fonti di Pace (MI);

Assopace;

Ufficio per l'Informazione del Kurdistan in Italia (U.I.K.I onlus);

Attac Catania;

Associazione nazionale AZAD;

Punto Critico;

Donne in Nero;

Csoa Zona Bandita Venezia;

Europa Levante;

Centro di cultura curda di via Valtorta-Milano;

Comitato di solidarietà con il popolo del Kurdistan della Sardegna - ASCE (Associazione Sarda Contro l'Emarginazione);

Acquasuav tavolo tematico nazionale acqua dighe Kurdistan

Centro socio culturale Ararat di Roma;



For further information, please contact:

Andrea Baranes
CRBM
Via Tommaso da Celano, 15, 00179 Roma, Italia
Tel. +39.06.78 26 855
Email: abaranes@crbm.org