Local activists call for review of Ilısu Dam construction amid Kurdish peace process

Local activists have called on the government to review a contentious, long-planned new dam project on the Tigris in southeastern Turkey, which will flood the ancient city of Hasankeyf.

The “Initiative to Keep Hasankeyf Alive” (Hasankeyf’ı Yaşatma Girişimi) association, founded to defend those whose livelihoods will be affected by the new Ilısu Dam, warned that the construction could also have a negative impact on the Kurdish peace process, at a time when the government is trying to give fresh impetus to negotiations. It also argued that the entire local administration is against the finalization of the construction.

“All the local administrations in the region that will be affected by the project are against it. But the government insists on continuing the project, despite all warnings and alternative proposal solutions conveyed through our association,” the NGO said in a statement.

Plans for the dam were first laid out in a regional development plan defined in the 1980s, under a broader development plan known as the Southeastern Anatolia Project (GAP). However, the initial project was drafted back in 1954 by the Directory of Water Affairs.

Set to become the fourth hydroelectric power plant if completed, the construction of the Ilısu Dam began in 2010 after years of debates, amid controversy over its ecological and cultural impact.

The construction continued despite tension rising after two of its workers were briefly abducted by outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants in August. The incident prompted the dam’s workers to resign and led to a halt to the construction work, but the Water Affairs Directory announced last month that recruitments had restarted at the site and security measures...