Subscription Center
Jun 23, 2009 12:43 PM | 2
Germany, Austria and Switzerland are expected to withdraw financial support for Turkey's controversial Ilisu Dam. The two billion euro ($2.8 billion) dam threatened to flood Kurdish settlements and ancient archaeological sites, while starving Iraq and its endangered marshes of water.
The 1,200-megawatt dam would be the second-largest in Turkey and the dam site is situated on the upper Tigris river about 40 miles from the border with Iraq and Syria. Dam plans first fell apart seven years ago when a private consortium of financiers and builders cited humanitarian and environmental concerns.
In 2006 the Austrian firm VA Tech Hydro put together a new consortium. The governments of Germany, Austria and Switzerland promised export credit guarantees, a type of insurance policy, if Turkey lived up to 153 criteria, including monitoring biological impacts, protecting historic monuments, and ensuring that the 60,000 people affected by the dam were provided with resettlement options.
But human rights activists, archaeologists and even Turkish pop singers have campaigned against Ilisu and say that Turkey has not lived up to its end of the bargain. In late 2008, Europe suspended these export credit contracts for 180 days. Now, Frankfurter Rundschau reports that the contracts will be cancelled on July 6. Such a withdrawal would mark the first time that government export credit contracts have been cancelled for humanitarian and environmental reasons, according to the Environmental News Service.
Although Turkey lacks financial backing and engineering expertise to build the dam, it has said it plans to move forward. The Forest and Environment minister wants to relocate the 10,000-year-old city of Hasankeyf to a "cultural park" and will begin building a new foundation on July 20, according to Hurriyet DailyNews. However, just 25,000 euros ($34,945) have been allocated to protect the ancient city and its artifacts.
Image of Hasankeyf courtesy Senol Demir via Flickr
More News Blog: Next: NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter enters orbit around moon Previous: Help wanted: A new project for your home computer to help beat HIV, Alzheimer's and other conditions
See what we're tweeting about
BoraZ Will Great Wines Prove a Moveable Feast under Global Warming? http://t.co/x2XcH7XBMa
Horganism A Brief History of Mental Illness In Art | Brainwaves, Scientific American Blog Network http://t.co/1Flg5N20YB via @sciam BoraZ Score one for the antiscience cranks in Portland on fluoridation http://t.co/onsxYR9eBc
Deadline: Jul 15 2013
Reward: $5,000 USD
SciBX: Science-Business eXchange, a joint publication from the makers
Deadline: Jun 30 2013
Reward: $1,000,000 USD
This is a Reduction-to-Practice Challenge that requires written documentation and&
Powered By: 
YES! Send me a free issue of Scientific American with no obligation to continue the subscription. If I like it, I will be billed for the one-year subscription.
2 Comments
Add CommentWater Wars... It's just a matter of time.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThere may be water wars... however, there is gonna be a possibility to prevent some dry regions which lack water from these wars. We can desalt water of the ocean using solar thermal power. Some greek islands have already started doing so and i think there is a great potential to increase efforts in this area. I admit that it's quite questionable to conduct that water thousands of kilometers through the desert... anyways, wherever a vision or hope also is a way
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this