Last call to try and stop the destruction of the 12,000 years old site.
The filling of the controversial Ilisu Dam continues despite the ongoing strong critic and protests by the affected communities along the Tigris River and civil society organizations from all over Turkey. Almost two weeks ago the raising dam reservoir has reached the 12,000 years old town Hasankeyf which is one of the most magnificent cultural and natural heritage sites at our planet. The planned "apocalypse" by the Turkish government is becoming slowly reality!
Despite strong domestic and international opposition, the Turkish government has commenced filling the reservoir of the controversial Ilisu Dam on the Tigris River in the Kurdish Southeast of Turkey without giving any official warning to those still living in the area. Neither the state agency responsible for the dam, the State Hydraulic Works (DSI), nor
Just two days after the 3rd Global Days of Action for Hasankeyf, on 10th June 2019, the news spread that the filling of the Ilisu Dam reservoir has been postponed. The responsible state agency DSI (State Hydraulic Works) declared to several media agencies that due to high river flow at the Ilisu dam site and
The "Cizre Dam" project to be built on the Tigris River in Cizre was approved. Many settlements will be flooded by the new dam.
Ecology is one of the three pillars of the paradigm of Democratic Confederalism, the political-theoretical concept of the Kurdish Freedom Movement. Besides democracy and gender liberation, ecology has been mentioned explicitly as a dimension in this concept since 2005. However to date, ecology is less discussed and practiced than the two other pillars.
The nation has been accused of breaking its agreement to ensure a flow of 500 cubic metres per second of the Euphrates flows through to Syria.
In the bible it is called the great river. The Euphrates fed the cradle of civilisation in ancient Mesopotamia. But, for Turkey, it is another weapon of war.
“We are the people of Mesopotamia, one of the most remarkable areas of the world, known as the cradle of civilization. We are the people of Hasankeyf in Turkey and of the Marshes in Iraq. We are connected and combined by the Tigris River. The Tigris is our common root, our common lifeline and our common future.”
Access to the 12,000-year-old settlement of Hasankeyf is now only possible with a special permit. The cultural site in Northern Kurdistan is flooded by the Ilisu dam on the Tigris. With it a unique history is lost.
The Initiative to Keep Hasankeyf Alive has issued a statement saying that Hasankeyf and Tigris Valley are "approaching doomsday".
Turkey has started filling a huge hydroelectric dam on the Tigris River, a lawmaker and activists said, despite protests that it will displace thousands of people, the rising waters of the dam are also expected to eventually submerge the 12,000-year-old town of Hasankeyf.
