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05/31/2010

The planned Ilisu dam in southeastern Turkey may be one of the most controversial construction projects in the world. But the Turkish government is persisting with the mammoth undertaking despite international protests at the environmental and cultural impacts it may have.

And now, with financing for the project largely secured despite a number of Turkey's international partners having pulled out, environmentalists see only one chance left to stop construction: that of persuading the Austrian turbine construction firm Andritz AG to pull out.

The company is the last foreign partner left in the original consortium. Should Andritz withdraw from the contract, the construction would have to be stopped under Turkish law and the project put out to tender again. That would win the activists a little time, at least.

Still, Ankara has proven determined to see the project through. Environmentalists and international organizations have repeatedly warned of the irreparable damage to both nature and to the region's cultural heritage that the project poses. In the summer of 2009, the governments of Germany, Austria and Switzerland announced they were pulling out of the mega project because of environmental and social concerns. The three countries had originally promised loan guarantees worth a total of €450 million, but had tied the guarantees to environmental and social conditions.

'Hope in Water'

The Turks were unsettled by the withdrawal of the Europeans and suspended work on the project. They insisted, however, that they would continue with the project nevertheless, with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan denouncing local and international environmental activists as "terrorists." Turkish state television ran a 10-part TV series about the Ilisu project titled "Hope in Water," which presented the dam as a blessing for humanity.

Rumors began circulating that Chinese banks could be interested in the project, but were eventually denied by the Chinese ambassador in Ankara. In February, Erdogan announced proudly that a new lender had been found and the dam could now be built at last.

According to Ulrich Eichelmann of the "Stop Ilisu" campaign, the main lender is the Bahrain subsidiary of Turkey's Halkbank, which will provide much of the missing €450 million. Turkey's Garanti Bank and AkBank were already involved in the project and are now set to increase their lending commitments.

Construction work was restarted in March. Conservationists have reported rock blasting, tunnel excavation and road construction being carried out.

Disappear Forever

Turkey, which is currently experiencing economic growth of 7 percent, appears to want to finance the prestige project from its own resources. "The government is demonstrating its economic strength," says Eichelmann. "It has never been as self-confident as now."

The 136-meter (446-feet) high dam, which will be built near the Kurdish village of Ilisu, will dam the Tigris River, filling the valley behind it with water. The hydroelectric power station will produce 3.8 billion kilowatt hours of electricity per year. Ankara hopes the project will help meet rising demand for energy, create jobs and spur economic growth in Turkey's impoverished southeast.

The dam will only cover about 3 percent of Turkey's electricity needs, however. And the price for that energy is high: Around 300 square kilometers (116 square miles) of land, including about 80 villages, will disappear under water. Up to 50,000 people will have to be relocated and millennia-old cultural sites such as the ancient city of Hasankeyf with its cave dwellings will disappear forever.