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Kurdish-Turkish official appealed Thursday for the cancellation of a dam project in his country, saying it would destroy cultural heritage and do little to boost economic development. "Of course we want economic and social development ... but development should not disregard people, nature and history," said Osman Baydemir, president of the Union of South Eastern Anatolia Municipalities and mayor of
Diyarbakir.
The Ilisu dam, on the Tigris River 30 miles north of the Syrian border, will
be one of the largest dams in Turkey and is scheduled to be completed by
2013. A ground breaking ceremony took place in August.
Opponents of the project say it will flood dozens of towns and destroy
archaeological treasures including the medieval fortress city of Hasankeyf,
which overlooks the Tigris.
"The cultural and historic heritage of Hasankeyf is indescribable. It is not
comparable with other places and we have a large responsibility," Baydemir,
speaking through a translator, said at a news conference organized by WWF.
Baydemir was in Vienna to lobby against project participation by an Austrian
company, Andritz Va Tech Hydro. The company, whose financial involvement
totals some $319 million, still needs an export guarantee from the Republic
of Austria.
Baydemir argued that funding for the roughly $1.6 billion project should be
invested in the region's cities, the construction of an international
airport, restoration of cultural heritage sites and tourism.
In prepared English remarks provided later, Baydemir added that 98,840 acres
will be affected and that people would be evacuated "without a proper and
effective resettlement plan".
Those in favor of the dam say it will create jobs and improve thousands of
lives.
Some 40,000 people would benefit from it directly, said Yunus Bayraktar,
Turkish project coordinator at a separate news conference at the Turkish
Embassy.
Nihat Eri, a Turkish parliamentarian, said Turkey has no choice but to
exploit its water resources.
"We have no oil, we have no gas ... the only thing we have is water," Eri
said, noting that hydroelectric power was "clean energy."