Turkey

Ilisu Dam Critics Backed by Damning Expert Report

Contact: Ercan Ayboga, Heike Drillisch

Kurdish groups and NGOs organized demonstrations outside local branches of the German Sparkasse (Savings Bank) and Deka Bank in eleven German towns today. The protests are targeting the two banks financial support of the controversial Ilisu dam in south-eastern Turkey that will submerge the ancient city of Hasankeyf. Deka Bank alone is underwriting construction of the hydropower project with more than 100 Million Euros.

Initiative to Keep Hasankeyf Alive – Fools of Munzur – Association for Conservation of Munzur Valley and Natural Life – Yusufeli Culture Association – WEED – International Rivers

Antalya, Turkey -- Dam-threatened people today demonstrated at a major dam-building conference in Turkey to call attention to major problems with Turkish dam development. Attendees at the organization’s annual world congress in Antalya, Turkey were met with a huge banner declaring "No development, but destruction by many dams in Turkey."

German Government Export Credit Guarantee Condemned

The German government’s March 26 decision to grant an export credit guarantee for the Ilisu dam in southeast Turkey has prompted widespread criticism and condemnation from a number of human rights and environmental groups. "The German Government has sacrificed people, culture and the environment in order to enable companies to make a profit," argued Heike Drillisch of WEED, a German environmental and development organization. "The pro-Ilisu decision is a disgrace for Germany."

Nichtregierungsorganisationen kritisieren Bürgschaftsbewilligung für türkischen Ilisu-Staudamm

Die soeben bekannt gegebene Entscheidung der Bundesregierung, eine Hermesbürgschaft für den Ilisu-Staudamm im Südosten der Türkei endgültig zu bewilligen, trifft auf massive Kritik von Nichtregierungsorganisationen.

"Die Bundesregierung opfert Menschen, Kultur und Umwelt, um einigen Unternehmen Gewinne zu ermöglichen", urteilt Heike Drillisch von der Umwelt- und Entwicklungsorganisation WEED. "Die Pro-Ilisu-Entscheidung ist eine Schande für Deutschland." Nach wie vor wurden die betroffene Bevölkerung und die gewählten Repräsentanten der umliegenden Gemeinden nicht angemessen in die Planung einbezogen. Nach Umfragen sind rund 80% der Bevölkerung gegen das Projekt. "Mit der Entscheidung beugt die Bundesregierung sich offensichtlich dem Druck, den die türkische Regierung aufgebaut hat, statt auf die Einhaltung internationaler Standards zu achten", so Drillisch.

Environment and Human Rights Activists today occupied the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany

For images from the occupation of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, contact Kai Schäfer, kai.schaefer [at] weed-online [dot] org, 0160 - 252 8942

Berlin -- "We have occupied the Brandenburg Gate to show the people here in Germany what their government is currently planning in Turkey," explains activist Matthias Dittmer. "We have a couple of hundred years of history here in Berlin -- the submergence of Hasankeyf would destroy a 9,000 year-old history." The direct action was called by environment and human rights organizations protesting the grant of an export credit guarantee by the German government for the controversial Ilisu Dam in Turkey.