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


	Overview of the Problems
	Highlight: Russia's Sakhalin II
	Highlight: The BTC Pipeline

Turkey announces restart of Ilisu construction

(ECA Watch Austria, Vienna, 12 February 2010) Yesterday's announcement by Turkish prime minister Erdogan, that construction would be restarted on the Ilisu dam, does not come as a surprise to dam critics. "All along it has been clear that the missing financing will only delay the project. The decisive factor if 'Ilisu' will be built is if the public resistance in Turkey gets so strong that the government ultimately has to give in -- and this resistance continues", said Ulrich Eichelmann from the Stop Ilisu Campaign.

Erdogan announced that the missing funding for the project was now assured. Effectively it appears quite certain that additional credits of 300-350 million Euro will come from the Turkish banks Akbank and Garanti Bank. Even so, these banks have not yet signed any official contracts. The withdrawal from the project by European export credit agencies (ECAs) and banks in July 2009 left a financing gap of 400-450 million Euro in total.

The Chinese ambassador in Ankara has declared that China does not intend to support the Ilisu project. In recent months rumours had repeatedly appeared that the Chinese ECA Sinosure could replace the European ECAs and provide the necessary export guarantees.

"It is a long way to the final decision, if the Ilisu dam will be built -- also after the 5th such announcement by Mr Erdogan. The resistance against this project continues, and we will ultimately stop it.", added Mr Eichelmann.

EU Parliament demands stop of work on Ilisu dam project

Vienna, Feb 3rd 2010. In a resolution on Turkey's progress report on accession to the EU, adopted yesterday, the European Parliament demanded that Turkey stop all work on the Ilisu dam project. At the same time the EP called on the EU Commission to conduct a study on the impacts of dams in South-East Anatolia. Until the results of this study are presented, all works on the dam project should be halted.

With this resolution the international pressure towards Ankara increases yet again to finally stop the Ilisu project. It puts pressure on Turkey's government, and above all its Minister of Environment Mr. Veysel Eroglu, to meet all project requirements concerning the resettlement of affected people and protection of the environment and cultural heritage. In their view, Germany, Austria and Switzerland's withdrawal from project involvement was purely politically motivated. The three European countries had used an environmental default clause to pull out of the project in July 2009 after Turkey had repeatedly failed to fulfil project conditions.

"This is a strong signal from the EU to Ankara, that Europe will continue to watch over the Ilisu dam project, even after the withdrawal of German, Austrian and Swiss financial support. The project is turning into an important gauge for the state of the accession talks between the EU and Turkey. We welcome this step forward.", says Ulrich Eichelmann from the Stop Ilisu Campaign

At the moment all work on the Ilisu construction site has come to a halt. Turkey is seeking new financing to replace the funds originally provided by European banks. Despite strong political pressure, the Turkish Banks Akbank and Garantie Bank have so far not approved further loans for the project. Ankara has announced the resumption of work activities for spring 2010. The threatened cultural monuments in and around the ancient city of Hasankeyf will not be moved to an "archaeological park" (which dam critics have said is impossible all along), but rather "conserved under water", according to Minister of Environment Eroglu.

*Further Information:
European Parliament resolution of 10 February 2010 on Turkey's progress report 2009:

Protests against Akbank and Garantibank took place in Turkey on 26 January 2010 and in front of the Turkish embassy in Germany on 14 January 2010