Kurdish Human Rights Project
Urges Moratorium on Dam Projects in Turkey's
Munzur Valley
16 May 2003
The Kurdish Human
Rights Project has issued the report of its fact-finding mission
into a series of controversial dams planned for the
Munzur Valley in the
Kurdish regions of Southeast Turkey.
The report focuses
on the dam projects planned for the Munzur Valley National Park.
KHRP finds no economic or energy-related justification for the
projects which would offset their disastrous human rights and
environmental impacts.
The Munzur Valley
is Turkey's first and foremost national park. A series of 8 dams
and Hydro-Electric Power Plants (HEPPs) is scheduled
for construction.
The dams are part of the widely criticised series of massive dam
projects in the Kurdish regions known as GAP, or the
Southeastern Anatolia
Project [1].
The centrepieces of
the Munzur projects, the Konaktepe Dam and HEPP, are to be built
by a consortium of companies led by US engineering firm Stone
and Webster. Other companies include the Austrian firms VA Tech
Hydro and Strabag and the Turkish firm Soyak and ATA [2]. It is
expected that if the Munzur projects go ahead, public funding
for them will be sought through export credit agency support from
several Western countries [3].
The estimated cost
of the projects is over $2 billion; yet the projected energy output
for all 8 projects is less than 1 per cent of Turkey's gross annual
production, 362 MW.
The World Wildlife
Fund has called for additional protection for the area's unique
ecosystem which would be destroyed by the projects. The projects
would make the valley uninhabitable for up to 40,000 local people
and violate domestic law.
KHRP's report 'This
is the Only Valley Where We Live: The Impact of the Munzur Dams'
highlights Turkey's history of pursuing a policy of displacement
towards the Kurds, and the role played by the GAP dams. KHRP recommends
a permanent moratorium on the construction of any major dam or
infrastructure projects in the Munzur valley until an independent
analysis indicates that the social and environmental benefits
to local people outweigh the damage and costs. It also urges funders
and companies involved to reconsider their positions.
Kerim Yildiz, Executive
Director of KHRP, says, "The Munzur Valley is one of Turkey's
national treasures. It is unthinkable that a project for which
there is no economic justification and from which local people
will only suffer can go ahead under any circumstances. A permanent
moratorium on dam construction is the only way to safeguard Munzur,
and we call on all potential funders or construction companies
to implement one."
Notes for Editors:
[1] For more on the
human rights and environmental impacts of the GAP dams, of which
the best-known is the Ilisu Dam, see the series of KHRP and Ilisu
Dam Campaign reports, including The Ilisu Dam: A Human Rights
Disaster in the Making, (London, November 1999); If the River
Were a Pen: The Ilisu Dam, the World Commission on Dams and Export
Credit Reform, (London, October 2000); The Ilisu Dam: Displacement
of Communities and Destruction of Culture, (London, October 2002),
[2] Turkish sources
have recently reported that ATA have dropped out of the Munzur
projects due to disagreements with the Turkish state. ATA's withdrawal
has not been officially confirmed by the company at this time.
[3] National export
credit agencies from whom support would in all likelihood be sought
include the US Ex-Im, who may be in line to finance the entire
project through a prior agreement, the Austrian OeKB, the German
Hermes, the Swiss ERG and the French COFACE.
For further information
please contact:
Kerim Yildiz, Executive
Director / Rochelle Harris, Public Relations
Officer / Anders Lustgarten,
Environmental Officer
Kurdish Human Rights
Project / 2 New Burlington Place, London W1S 2HP
Tel: 020 7287 2772
/ Fax: 020 7734 4927 / Email: khrp@khrp.demon.co.uk
/
http://www.khrp.org
