Banks| Policies| Dodgy Deals| Campaigns
About us| Blog| Publications| Successes| Contact us| Donate
About BankTrack
Visit us
Organisation
Our team
Our board
Guiding principles
Team up with us
Join our Active Allies list
Our annual reports
Funding and finances
History
BankTrack in the media
Our privacy policy
Donate
2021-02-24 00:00:00
Protect the climate but finance Total?
2021-02-16 00:00:00
Oil and gas financiers are staring down the barrel at $1 trillion in losses: time to rein in support for new pipelines
2021-02-11 00:00:00
Beefing up risk: the exposure of JBS’ financiers to financial, regulatory and reputational risks
2021-01-25 00:00:00
Why should banks support EU mandatory human rights and environmental due diligence?
2020-09-24 12:53:20
Oscislowo open-pit coal mine cancelled
2020-09-08 13:07:41
Strengthened OECD guidance on responsible banking
2020-02-25 10:35:27
JPMorgan Chase Coal and Arctic Policy a step forward but fails to match its climate responsibility as the world’s #1 Fossil Bank
2020-02-18 17:27:23
Civil society groups welcome Royal Bank of Scotland preparing to exit fossil fuels
Connect
2021-03-24 00:00:00
Banking on Climate Chaos 2021
2021-03-22 00:00:00
BankTrack Annual Report 2020
2021-02-01 00:00:00
Banking on Thin Ice
2020-11-30 00:00:00
Soft Commitments, Hard Lessons: an analysis of the Soft Commodities Compact
2020-11-24 00:00:00
"Trust Us, We're Equator Banks": Part II
2020-11-18 00:00:00
Crude Risk: Risks to banks and investors from the East African Crude Oil Pipeline
See all publications
Browse
Home
Banks
Dodgy Deals
Map
Campaigns
About
About BankTrack
Donate
Contact BankTrack
Publications
Victories
Follow Us
News
BankTrack blog
Facebook page
Twitter channel
Home › News
Germany, Austria and Switzerland backing out of Ilisu Dam Project in Turkey
Stop Ilisu Campaign welcomes unprecedented step
Start
Banks
Dodgy Deals

By: Berne Declaration
2009-06-22
Berlin, Vienna, Zurich

Contact:


Heike Drillisch (CounterCurrent - Ilisu Campaign Germany), , +49 177 345 2611
Christine Eberlein (Berne Declaration), , +41 794 263 056
Ulrich Eichelmann (ECA Watch Austria), , 0043 676 662 1512

 


Share this page:

Germany, Austria and Switzerland will withdraw their export credit guarantees for the highly controversial Ilisu dam project in Turkey by July 6th, as the German daily Frankfurter Rundschau Online reported on Friday. This is an unprecedented step in the history of export finance. Environmental and human rights organisations had repeatedly pointed out that Turkey violated conditions tied to the guarantees and the environmental, social, cultural and geopolitical problems remained unsolved.

"We greatly welcome that the European governments finally take international standards for this project seriously", comments Heike Drillisch from the German Ilisu Campaign CounterCurrent. "This is a great step forward for the protection of human rights, the environment and cultural heritage."

CounterCurrent and the Swiss organisation Berne Declaration had only recently been to the Ilisu region on the Tigris river to analyse if Turkey was fulfilling the European conditions. „Our research showed that there is still no solution for the 60,000 people losing their means of existence nor for the salvage of the invaluable cultural heritage doomed by flooding", declares Berne Declaration's Christine Eberlein. "On the contrary, Turkey has continued to expropriate farmers even during the ultimatum."

Due to repeated violations of the conditions by the Turkish authorities, the governments of Germany, Austria and Switzerland had put the contracts on hold for 180 days at the end of 2008. The deadline to decide on the final withdrawal ends on July 6th, but the German government obviously already made up its mind. As the three countries decide unanimously, this means that Austria and Switzerland will also back out.

The withdrawal is a huge victory for environmentalists and human rights advocates who have campaigned for years for the stop of the mega dam. It increases the likelihood that project will be cancelled completely, as Turkey now lacks 450 m Euro and technical know how. The political impacts of the withdrawal weigh even stronger: for the first time export credit contracts are cancelled on grounds of humanitarian, cultural and environmental concerns. The reputation of the project thus equals to zero. Therefore it will be difficult for Turkey to find new sponsors, as the European banks providing finance for the project are expected to also withdraw.

"This is an important stage win for us. We will now increase our efforts to have the project revoked in Turkey as well", says Ulrich Eichelmann from the Stop Ilisu Campaign in Austria. Prominent artists like nobel prize writer Orhan Pamuk and pop singer Tarkan have already embarked the campaign to stop the Ilisu dam and make the antique town of Hasankeyf and the surrounding Tigris river a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Related banks

DekaBank Germany

active

Related Dodgy Deals

Projects

There are no projects active for this item now.
on record

Ilisu dam Turkey

Hydroelectric Power Generation
Browse
Home
Banks
Dodgy Deals
Map
Campaigns
About
About BankTrack
Donate
Contact BankTrack
Publications
Victories
Follow Us
News
BankTrack blog
Facebook page
Twitter channel
Vismarkt 15
6511 VJ Nijmegen
The Netherlands

Tel: +31 24 324 9220
Contact@banktrack.org
©2016 BankTrack                Webdesign by BankTrack and EASYmind
BankTrack is a registered charity in the Netherlands (ANBI) - RSIN 813874658
Find our privacy policy here

Stay up to date

Sign up now for all BankTrack's news


Make a comment

Your comment will be reviewed, before being posted