{"id":232,"date":"2010-04-26T19:55:32","date_gmt":"2010-04-26T19:55:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.aaeurop.com\/?p=232"},"modified":"2010-04-26T19:55:32","modified_gmt":"2010-04-26T19:55:32","slug":"turkey-to-build-disputed-dam-despite-euro-snub","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aaeurop.com\/?p=232","title":{"rendered":"Turkey to build disputed dam despite Euro snub"},"content":{"rendered":"

Turkey to build disputed dam despite Euro snub
\n<\/strong>By Agence France Presse (AFP)
\nApril 20, 2010<\/p>\n

HASANKEYF, Turkey: Turkey has secured the support of a local bank to
\nbuild a dam on a major historic site on the Tigris River, overriding
\nharsh opposition at home and snubs by European lenders.<\/p>\n

The head of Turkey?s Akbank said last week that the company would help
\nfinance the construction, but not without a sense of discomfort for
\nbacking a project which, critics say, will displace 54,000 people and
\nsubmerge millenia-old archaeological remains.<\/p>\n

?Banks make only financial considerations when joining such projects.
\nBut the Ilisu dam will be the last such example for us ? From now on we
\nwill pay attention also to environmental aspects,? Suzan Sabanci Dincer
\ntold the Vatan newspaper.<\/p>\n

Another major Turkish bank, Garanti, is also reportedly planning to
\nextend financial support for the construction.<\/p>\n

At the core of opposition to the Ilisu dam is Hasankeyf, an impoverished
\ntown on the banks of the Tigris, once a mighty city in ancient
\nMesopotamia, which will be largely submerged by the dam?s giant reservoir.<\/p>\n

Critics say the dam, to be completed with a 1,200-megawatt power plant,
\nwill destroy Hasankeyf?s unique historical remains and ruin the
\ntraditional lifestyle of its population of ethnic Kurds and Arabs.<\/p>\n

The local administration, and environmental groups, who have joined
\nforces in a campaign to stop the project, gathered in Hasankeyf on April
\n11 for a conference to drum up support against the government.<\/p>\n

?This project threatens 214 archaeological sites,? historian Adnan Cevik
\ntold AFP, pointing at the ruins of a 13th-century fortress on a hill
\noverlooking the Tigris, dotted by hundreds of ancient cave houses.<\/p>\n

?There are remains from prehistoric, Hellenic, Assyrian, Sassanid, Roman
\nand pre-Ottoman times here,? he said, as tourists climbed the hill to
\ntake respite in the tiny compounds carved into the rocks, which now
\nserve as cafes.<\/p>\n

Proponents say the dam, part of a broader plan to boost economic
\ndevelopment in the poor, mainly Kurdish southeast, will create up to
\n10,000 jobs, irrigate vast areas of farmland and provide vital energy
\nfor the economy.<\/p>\n

But Hasankeyf?s 4,000 residents, backed by civic groups, maintain they
\ncan prosper on revenues from tourism, pushing a petition campaign to
\nhave the town included on UNESCO?s list of world heritage and deter
\nbanks from financing the dam.<\/p>\n

?We are here at the door of Mesopotamia. This place is an unbelievable
\ncombination of nature and culture,? said Guven Eken, head of the
\nenvironmental group Doga.<\/p>\n

In July, Swiss, Austrian and German agencies withdrew a pledge for 1.2
\nbillion euros? ($1.6 billion) worth of loan guarantees, saying Ankara
\nhad failed to answer concerns on how environment and cultural heritage
\nwould be protected.<\/p>\n

The lenders cited an independent study that the project did not meet
\nWorld Bank criteria, prompting an angry response from Turkey, a
\ncandidate for EU membership, that the decision was ?political.?<\/p>\n

Turkey has 172 hydroelectric plants, which meet 17 percent of its power
\ndemand, and 148 more are under construction, according to official figures.<\/p>\n

Lawyer Murat Cano, part of a legal team which has petitioned the
\nEuropean Court of Human Rights to block the project, argued that
\nAnkara?s environmental record was already poor, citing a number of dams
\nbuilt on the Euphrates, which also originates in Turkey.<\/p>\n

?The Euphrates is already destroyed and now they are targeting the
\nTigris,? he grumbled.<\/p>\n

The activist argued that Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan was
\n?personally following? the project and ?seeking financial help from Arab
\ncountries since the support of Akbank and Garanti will not be enough.?
\n<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Turkey to build disputed dam despite Euro snub By Agence France Presse (AFP) April 20, 2010 HASANKEYF, Turkey: Turkey has secured the support of a local bank to build a dam on a major historic […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":81,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kadence_starter_templates_imported_post":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aaeurop.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aaeurop.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aaeurop.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aaeurop.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aaeurop.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=232"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.aaeurop.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":233,"href":"https:\/\/www.aaeurop.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232\/revisions\/233"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aaeurop.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/81"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aaeurop.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=232"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aaeurop.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=232"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aaeurop.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=232"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}