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12th May 2000 : Ilisu Dam Campaign is officially launched outside DTI
The campaign is officially launched to more T-Shirted messages and the Kurdish community deliver the following two letters to Stephen Byers:
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Hasankeyf Diyarbakir, Turkey Department of Trade and Industry Dear RT Hon. Stephen Byers, As you are aware, Balfour Beatty is heading a group of companies contracted by the Turkish government to build the Ilisu Dam is Southeast Turkey. The dam will mean the forced resettlement of some 25,000 mainly Kurdish people and will effect a further 11,000. This will lead to the flooding of the historical town, Hasankeyf and the destruction of the ecological balance of the whole region. It has been said that this proposal will, ì improve the economy of the areaî. However, this proposal will only lead to immense human suffering, cultural, historical and environmental loss. Some of the facts needed to be raised are; 25,000 Kurdish people will become homeless, losing their farmlands and livelihoods. (note- the Turkish government cannot guarantee that these people will be re-homed, let alone guarantee that this people will be allocated work in order to survive}. Within a short period, an additional 11,000 people will lose their farmlands and livelihoods. The dam will flood the medieval town of Hasankeyf, a treasure trove of archeological remains dating back 10,000 years and the historical jewel in the crown of Kurdish culture. Hasankeyfís treasures will be lost FOREVER. The dam will destroy the surrounding environment. With other planned dams, it will also control the downstream flow of the river Tigris into Syria and Iraq. Analysts are stating that the future wars in the area will be fought over water. Turkey has long threatened to block water flows to its downstream neighbours. Balfour Beatty is asking the British government to financially support its work on the Ilisu Dam and the conditional approval for a $200 million guarantee to Balfour Beatty has already been granted. Having in mind that a final decision is to be reached in the near future, we appeal to you to put a STOP to this disastrous and inhuman proposal. Yours sincerely,
MR KORAY DUZGOREN ñ Journalist/Writer |
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OPEN LETTER FROM THE KURDISH COMMUNITY IN BRITAIN TO STEPHEN BYERS MP Secretary of State for Trade and Industry You are entrusted with the onerous responsibility of taking the decision on ECGD financial backing for the Balfour Beatty/BICC led consortium that intends to construct the Ilisu Dam under contract from the Turkish Government. This project is not without its controversy, as you will by now be fully aware. If you give it the go ahead it is certain that the Dam will, by all estimates, lead to the displacing of some 25 thousand mainly Kurdish villagers from their homes; this without proper consultation and with no serious attempt at putting together a compensation package of the kind that is usually offered when people are expected to make such sacrifices. Of all this you must be aware, given the immense amount of publicity the Ilisu Dam has attracted in the British and international media over recent weeks. The violation of accepted standards and the human rights of ordinary citizens should alone be sufficient reason to call a halt to this proposed construction venture. However, this Dam threatens to flood a human settlement of historic and archaeological significance for the world and of cultural importance for the Kurds; namely the ancient town of Hasankeyf. The destruction of this place would be a catastrophe and an act of wanton vandalism the like of which has rarely been seen. We cannot believe that you want to go down in history as someone associated with such an action. It is always crucially important to give full consideration to the rights and demands of the local people, which you as a democratically elected minister responsible to his electorate must surely agree. In this respect, lest you can still be in any doubt about the true feelings of the local people, we can state clearly now that overwhelmingly the majority opinion of those who will be so adversely effected is emphatically against the building of this dam. We are in a good position to inform you of local public opinion being ourselves Kurds from that region. We have no other interest in the fate of this development which, we must respectfully point out to you, is being too narrowly conceived by your ECGD. Sometimes there are interests that should taken precedence over the financial ones. Maybe Balfour Beatty/BICC could not agree, but a government department must be able to adopt this wider perspective. At this late hour we appeal to you to rethink your position on this project, correctly described as a human rights disaster in the making. If you can help stop the Ilisu Dam, all Kurds will be forever thankful to you. 12 May 2000 Contact: Halkevi 020 7 249 6980 or KWA Haringey on 020 8 880 1804
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