Turkish Delegates Ask EU to Monitor Ilisu Dam

June 16, 2005 (Source: ECA Watch [FERN, WEED]) — Turkish community representatives have gone to Brussels to ask the EU to monitor plans for the Ilisu dam as Turkey progresses toward membership, claiming that the project doesn't meet EU environmental and cultural heritage directives. The infamous dam, first proposed in 2000, was beset by problems forcing the business consortium behind it to collapse. A new consortium was formed in May 2004 led by VA Tech/ Siemens (Austria). Several export credit agencies have been asked to back the project. Read a May 16, 2005, press release from the Iranian Cultural Heritage News Agency, Iran, "Renewed Dam Project Threatens Historic Site in Turkey"