The export risk insurance provided by Germany, Austria and Switzerland for the Ilisu project has ended. The contractually stipulated requirements in the areas of the environment, cultural heritage and resettlement were not sufficiently fulfilled. As a result, there was no longer a basis for continuing the project with export risk insurance from the three countries, thus ending the export risk insurance cover. The controversial Ilisu Dam project threatened to flood a region that is part of ancient Mesopotamia and that includes more than 83 archaeological sites and the nesting and breeding grounds for dozens of endangered bird, mammal and aquatic species.
Doga Dernegi organization for protection of heritage has urged the Government of Turkey to abandon the Ilisu Dam project since 2006 when fist works on the dam have started and to begin the process of having Hasankeyf included on UNESCO’s World Natural And Cultural Heritage Sites List.
If constructed, the Ilisu Dam would break several national and international laws and regulations. This region is part of ancient Mesopotamia – the ‘Cradle of Civilisation’. Of the more than 300 archaeological sites in this area, 83 would be inundated and 14 would be affected by dam bank erosion. The most important site is the township of Hasankeyf, which would be partially flooded, contains historical houses, bridges, tombs, mosques, caves, churches, a castle and palaces. Of the ten sites surveyed, the known impacts include the loss of: another village; 25 ”Tepe” (mounds that are formed from remains of past settlements); 25 surface areas (Undiscovered); 8 bridges and 8 cemeteries. The dam would affect Hasankeyf’s lower section but it is unclear what would be lost as there is no sufficient survey or data available.
The principal goals of Western investors were to minimize the impact of the hydroelectric power plant on people living in the region as well as the environment and cultural heritage, and to fulfill the applicable standards of the World Bank. To give insistency to the matter against the backdrop of repeated delays in implementing the measures, in December of last year the export credit agencies advised the consortia to suspend the construction and supply contracts and initiated the contractually specified final deadline of 180 days to implement these standards. This deadline expired on 6 July 2009.
Posted by: Eva Prelovšek
