One year after Europe's withdrawal from the Ilisu project: new hope for Hasankeyf despite restart of construction

One year ago on July 8th 2009 Germany, Austria and Switzerland quit their contracts concerning the Ilisu dam project with Turkey. In spring 2010 Turkey restarted construction on the Tigris river. But now there is new hope that the ancient city of Hasankeyf does not have to be destroyed by a giant reservoir. A new study, presented on July 6th at an international conference at the renowned Technical University of Ankara, shows that the same amount of electricity could be generated in an alternative Ilisu project which would not destroy the historic town. The idea is to build five smaller dams instead of one mega-dam: http://m-h-s.org/ilisu/upload/PDF/2010/Alternativprojekt.pdf

ECA Watch Austria and WWF Austria strongly critizised today Andritz' decision to continue their involvement with the Ilisu project on the Tigris river in south-eastern Turkey, and emphasized that such a decision will not go without consequences. The explanations of Andritz-CEO Wolfgang Leitner contradict…read more

According to information from the 'Initiative to keep Hasankeyf alive', the inhabitants of Ilisu village are to be resettled in two months time. It has now become clear that this will threaten their material existence; they will have to pay 50,000 Turkish Lira (ca. 25,000 Euro) more for their new…read more