Turkey
Did you know?
While Turkey does have its own ECA, Export Credit Bank of Turkey (Türk Eximbank), the real export credit controversy lies in the projects being developed within Turkey. The Ilisu Dam was canceled in 2001 after British construction firm Balfour Beatty backed out, but in April 2005, the German company Siemens began to acquire VA Tech, planning to renew construction of the dam. Another controversial project in Turkey is the BTC pipeline which runs through Azerbaijan and Georgia before ending in Ceyhan, Turkey.
"The majority of stakeholders object to the dam. People are wary of the social upheaval that lies ahead of them and some simply do not want to leave their village roots."
-European Rivers Network on the Ilisu Dam |
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Important Background Documents:
Read the ECA Watch BTC Pipeline page
Ilisu Dam Project Summary:
The Ilisu dam is a hydro-electric power plant to be built on the Tigris River, part of the Southeastern Anatolia Project (Turkish initials "GAP") to build 22 dams and 19 power plants on the Tigris, the Euphrates, and their tributaries. The British ECA, the Export Credits Guarantee Department (ECGD), severed involvement with the Ilisu Dam when Balfour Beatty withdrew from the project, leading to a cancellation of all dam construction in 2001. (The ECGD similarly ended involvement with the Yusufeli and Artvin dams when the contractor AMEC withdrew from the project, leaving it in the hands of Alstom and its French ECA supporter, COFACE.) Now the contract for the Ilisu dams lies in the hands of VA Tech, which the German company has bought in order to continue the project. It is uncertain which ECAs will finance the new phase of the dam, though ERG (Exportkreditgarantie) in Switzerland and OeKB (Oesterreichische Kontrollbank) in Austria have both been approached.
The dam will directly affect 78,000 people by removing them from their homes, and indirectly affect the many people who will have to deal with incoming immigration of the displaced people. Included in the towns to be affected by a flooded Tigris is the ancient city of Hanskeyf, leading to the loss of important archeological artifacts. These are the same issues which the project was criticized for the first time around yet no plans to fix it have arisen as of yet. Turkey still lacks a great deal of energy, but this is because the energy grid in Turkey is inefficient and much of the energy generated by dams is lost. Efforts to conserve power and investigations into alternative sources such as solar and wind would be better solutions to the problem than the construction of a large number of dams which create a variety of social and environmental problems.
More Info on the Ilisu Dam
Read more at the Ilisu Dam Project Campaign Site
27 September 2007, Turkey flouts ECA conditions, highlighting weaknesses of OECD Common Approaches
30 May 2007, Export credits for Turkey's Ilisu dam generate official and citizen protests
26 March 2007, German NGOs criticize approval of export credit guarantees for Ilisu
12 March 2007, Is the OECD environmentally bankrupt because of Ilisu?
News 2004-2005:
 Turkish Delegates Ask EU to Monitor Ilisu Dam June 16, 2005
Reemergence of discredited Ilisu Dam project: Turkish dams violate EU standards and human rights April 6, 2005
US ECA Ex-Im Bank and Danish ECA Finance Gas Turbine Generator Sale to Turkey July 16, 2004
News 1999-2003:
BTC Fact-Finders Harassed by Turkish Police March 25, 2003
YUSUFELI PROJECT VIOLATES INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS: International Fact
Finding Mission releases preliminary report May 2002
The planned Yusufeli Hydroelectric in Turkey project violates international
stanards on resettlement, cultural heritage, international waterways and
environmental assessment, according to the preliminary report of an international
fact finding Mission which recently returned from the region. The Mission
calls on the Export Credit Agencies which are considering the project
to refuse support. The Mission consisted of representatives of Corner
House, Friends of the Earth, Kurdish Human Rights Project, Amis de la
Terre, France Liberte and Ilisu Dam Campaign.
Ilisu
Dam Fact Finding Mission: PRELIMINARY
FINDINGS [ ] October 9-16, 2000
To assess the progress being made by the Turkish government in meeting
the four conditions in order for the project to obtain export credit support,
an international Fact Finding Mission of Non-Governmental Organisations
from the United Kingdom, the USA, Germany and Italy visited the Ilisu
area from the 9th-16th October 2000. The Mission met with affected people,
prominent municipal officials, lawyers, and local professional associations
relevant to the project. Throughout its visit, the Mission was followed
by state security police, who also sat in on one interview univited.
Westminster Debates UK Support for Ilisu Dam February 15, 2000
By Jackie Storer and Sian Clare
The Ilisu Dam Turkey:
Resettlement and Human Rights Summary of Proposed Presentation to
World Commission on Dams
December 1999 By Kerim Yildiz, Kurdish Human Rights Project
Africa/Middle Eastern Regional Consultation, Cairo
A Human Rights Disaster in the Making - Turkey's Ilisu Dam November 17, 1999 By Nicholas Hidyard, The Corner House
Britain Backs Controversial Dam £1bn Turkish Scheme Threatens Kurd Lands March 1, 1999
For more information, contact the ECA Watch Facilitator.
ECA Watch Campaign Member Links:
The Ilisu Dam Project - http://www.ilisu.org.uk
Kurdish Human Rights Project - http://www.khrp.org
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