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SHAME on Kurds who allowed Hasankeyf to be DESTROYED

A place for discussion and exchanging ideas about Kurdistan issues here, also a place for sharing article & views and analysis about Kurdistan .

Re: 12,000 year old Hasankeyf dam will only last 50 YEARS

PostAuthor: Anthea » Tue May 01, 2018 3:34 am

People on the streets for Hasankeyf and Sur

Appeals to save the two ancient heritage sites come from all over the world

Saturday 28 April had been chosen by ecologist and civil society organisations as the Global Day of Action for the survival of Sur and Hasankeyf.

People from all over the world joined the demonstrations and organised different and creative actions.
SHAME on THE MILLIONS of TURKISH LOVING KURDS who DID NOT JOIN IN

In Istanbul people gathered in Galatasaray Square calling for an end to this policy of eradication of culture and history. Life and environment defenders asked to end what they defined a “political, historical and cultural crime” and said “it is not too late to save Sur and Hasankeyf”.

The Global Action Day was organised by Mesopotamia Ecology Movement, the No Destruction Platform from Sur, Solidarity with Sur Platform, Hasankeyf Volunteers, Hasankeyf Survival Initiative, Munzur Environmental Association, Defense of the Northern Forests.

They all gathered under the slogan “Give Sur and Hasankeyf a voice” and carried banners and photographs of the two places.

Zeynep Tanbay, a member of the Solidarity Platform with Sur, read the joint press statement on behalf of the environment and life defenders.

Emphasizing that centuries old Sur and Hasankeyf faced the danger of extinction, Tanbay pointed out that these two cultural and natural heritage sites located on the shore of the Dicle River are subjected to a multidimensional devastation impossible to compensate for economic and political interests.

Describing the historical and cultural meanings of Sur and Hasankeyf, Tambay describes the history of Sur, which houses very ancient settlements, as old as 7500 years and was recognized as World Cultural Heritage.

Stressing that Sur has been preserved throughout 33 civilisations in history, has undergone a great destruction in the 21st century, Tanbay said that the aim of this was to erase the history and culture of the place. Tanbay also said that now the government wants to destroy the social memory, solidarity, socialization and historical identity of Sur, something which had been preserved for 10 thousand years. “They want to turn Sur into a city without soul, where only commercial-religious and tourist activities are made”, she said.

Tanbay noted that these problems would not be solved if the people or Sur are not returned their houses and neighborhoods: the city, she said, “must be returned to their legitimate residents”.

Speaking about Hasankeyf's 12,000-year old history, Tanbay pointed out that the Ilisu Dam and HEPP projects, which have been on the agenda for 21 years, will mean that Hasankeyf is doomed to be flooded.

Hasankeyf, with its more than 20 oriental and western civilizations and cultural traces, is a unique cultural heritage unlike any other in the world.

Finally, Zeynep Tanbay called on artists, intellectuals and writers, NGOs, political parties and trade unions, and especially the United Nations (UN), the European Union (EU) and relevant international organizations, to act now for Sur and Hasankeyf.


If it was ISIS destroying Hasankeyf and Sur there would be a WORLDWIDE outcry, but because it is the much loved NATO country of Turkey, nobody prevents these disasters from taking place X(
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Re: 12,000 year old Hasankeyf dam will only last 50 YEARS

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Re: Goodbye Hasankeyf - Hoşçakal Hasankeyf

PostAuthor: Anthea » Tue May 08, 2018 10:40 pm

Goodbye Hasankeyf

A farewell atmosphere prevails in the historic Hasankeyf district, which will be flooded. In every household, there is only one topic spoken in every shop: the new Hasankeyf. Here is the last situation on the streets of the city where the breaths are held :((

The construction sites built on the river edges along the way continue to work in the Hummali. There is a farewell atmosphere in the historic district of Hasankeyf, which will remain under the reservoir waters. The 710 housing made by Toki in the new HASANKEYF will be moved almost complete. The new area at the foot of Raman Mountain, 1.5 kilometers from the old Town center, has also moved to the district of Kaymakamlik and State institutions. The ceremony will be held in May.

According to the timetable, Hasankeyfliler will be transported to new homes in June. It's not going to be that easy for people living in this area to move in. The inhabitants of the region, who will say goodbye to their homes, are having deep sadness of leaving the historic city on the other hand, dreaming of new lives to begin in a short time. There's another question in everyone's head. ' Who will be our new neighbors? ', ' What are we going to do with our trees? ', ' What do we do in new Hasankeyf? ' Here's the last situation on the streets of the historic city where the breaths are held.

The two sides of the Tigris, Hasankeyf's history dates back to the ancient period. Byzantine, Sassanians, Emeviler, Abbasians, Hamdaniler, Mervaniler, Arcutians, Eyyübis, Seljuks and Ottomans dominated the region's rich history. Hasankeyf, an important commercial center in the time of the Artusians, suffers greatly in the Mongol invasion. Castle, Bridge, al-Ririk mosque, Sultan Suleyman, KOC and Ulu mosques, small palace, Grand Palace, Hammam and Zeynel Bey tomb are coming to the beginning of centuries of historical structures. Hasankeyf, one of the most important tourism centres with its historical and natural beauties, is also heavily visited by domestic and foreign tourists. In the rocky hills and deep canyons due to its kalkerli structure, Hasankeyf Caves, which are composed of thousands of nature and people, attract particular attention.

Buildings to be moved individually

The tomb of Zeynel Bey, one of the most beautiful symbols of HASANKEYF, was recently moved to a large ceremony instead of the new settlement. As part of the work conducted jointly by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the General Directorate of State Water Works, the transportation of monuments planned to be carried in the historic Hasankeyf district under the Ilu Dam Lake will be transferred to the new Hasankeyf settlement unit. The work is in progress. There are six more important works planned to be transported. Artuklu Hamam, private Rizk Mosque, middle gate, Girls mosque and Suleyman Khan mosque will be transported to new places shortly.

Last tours made

After the creation of the works, the new Hasankeyf, including the museum, will be held in Archaeopark. Three works, especially the bridge feet, will be preserved in place, which is unable to move. Hasankeyf, which will remain under the Ilu Dam, is experiencing the influx of tourists. Domestic and foreign tourists who want to see Hasankeyf for the last time with the warming of the air are almost flocking to the county. Last photos are taken at the end of the historic city and the Tigris edge. The children who visited the region among the thousands of caves of Hasankeyf are trying to make the faces of the latest visitors with stories of semi-Kurdish and Turkish semi-English.

"will be moved in June"

In front of the main rock mass built up on HASANKEYF, the machines work continuously. The main rock is a gigantic filling of 4 million cubic meters, 528 m high, to avoid damage to the dam water. DSI 16 at the beginning of the studies. Regional manager Ali Naci Kösali, explaining the work of the people in the minds of the questions answered. Kötues: "Ilu Dam, Rock fill type will be the largest dam in the world. It will be Turkey's fourth largest dam in terms of energy production. There are about 3,000 inhabitants in Hasankeyf and around 500 houses. We plan to complete the transport of HASANKEYF in June.

After we take out the houses, we'll carry six more artifacts in the area. In Hasankeyf, we're going to do machine help to transport people. We'll carry the people's homes with trucks. We brought a tree-moving machine to transport the trees. " One of the most debated issues in HASANKEYF was the continuation of a fortress of historic caves, which was allegedly detonated by a rock with dynamite. Kösali responds to these allegations: "We are not destroying HASANKEYF, we are taking protection. We're filling the caves so there's no collapse. Our work is approved by the Ministry of Culture and the Protection Board of natural assets. "

My trees come with me

This migration is not the first for Hasankeyfliler, who is prepared to migrate from the city center. Residents of the region who live in the famous caves of Hasankeyf were removed from the caves in the 1960s and placed in the district center. The 68-year-old retired Zabita supervisor Haci Emin Turan, who had to emigrate after the intervening half-century, explains his concerns: "I was a 20-year-old lad when we came to Hasankeyf. Leaving here will be a red death for me. We're going to go and bleed. We're going to build a new life. The people of Hasankeyf earn their lives from tourism. What will our youth do after the region is underwater? The young need to be employed until the new order is achieved. Our second request is to give home to our youth who come to the age of marriage. Toki should also give home to our young marriages in exchange for his money. I want my trees to come to my new house.

"Solve problems with dialogue"

Hasankeyflans said there is no problem with the transport of the new HASANKEYF the artisan Sea stone, says it is ready to move. Stone, "I've been doing trades here for 20 years. It's not easy moving a county to another place. Especially if this county is a historical place like Hasankeyf. I am in the new Hasankeyf shop for shopkeepers, and I have the key to my shop from today. There are some vague spots in the moving process, awaiting assistance from the authorities. Hasankeyf is one of the most densely populated areas of the young unemployed population. Finally, we want to increase the number of shops built in the new HASANKEYF"

Link to original Turkish article and ass photos:
https://www.sabah.com.tr/pazar/2018/05/ ... -hasankeyf
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Re: We will Cry Tears of Blood as we say Goodbye Hasankeyf

PostAuthor: Anthea » Sat May 12, 2018 10:55 pm

Open Letter to UK PM on Turkey’s use of water as a weapon of war

Please click to enlarge:
933

Mesopotamian Ecology Movement, Initiative to Keep Hasankeyf Alive, The Corner House and Peace in Kurdistan Campaign have sent an open letter to the UK Prime Minister Theresa May on April 28, 2018, the Global Action Day for Hasankeyf and Sur.

In this important letter on the international/downstream impacts of Turkish dams and in particular on the Ilisu Dam it is stated that the Turkish government has used and is using dams as a weapon against downstream people.

We publish the letter below;

    Dear Prime Minister,

    The Ilisu Dam and Turkey’s use of water as a weapon of war

    We write as civil society organizations to draw your attention to the imminent impoundment by Turkey of the Ilisu Dam on River Tigris in contravention of international customary law relating to shared waterways, which requires negotiation and agreement on downstream flows. The announced impoundment of Ilisu comes at a time when Turkey is recklessly and illegally using water as a weapon of war against Northern Syria, denying those affected of their right to water, threatening to exacerbate the existing conflicts in the region and causing severe suffering to those who have already suffered seven years of brutal civil war. We would urge you to protest Turkey’s intended impoundment of Ilisu and to use all available diplomatic means to mediate a peaceful and fair settlement between Turkey, Syria and Iraq on the use of their shared rivers.

    Turkey has pushed ahead with the Ilisu Dam project despite widespread international opposition. Funding for the project was refused by the World Bank because of concerns over downstream impacts and, in 2001, the UK Export Credits Guarantee Department signalled its unwillingness to support Balfour Beatty’s intended participation in the project, due in large part to similar concerns. Several other European Union countries have also declined to fund the project.

    If the impoundment goes ahead as planned, the dam and its reservoir would destroy the livelihoods of up to 80.000 people, mainly Kurds, and flood the ancient city of Hasankeyf. Turkey’s current resettlement and cultural heritage salvage plans are wholly inadequate. Moreover, the downstream ecological impacts of the dam have barely been investigated, let alone mitigated.

    Both Syria and particularly Iraq rely on the Tigris River, which is the vital water source for agriculture and urban centres. The storage capacity of the Ilisu reservoir would allow Turkey to halt flow of the Tigris to Iraq for months; and, even if operated without hostile intent, the dam, when combined with proposed irrigation schemes, would severely reduce downstream flows, increasing levels of salts in the water and gravely violating the right to clean water for downstream riparian people. The impacts would reach as far as the southern Mesopotamian Marshes, an area that was drained under Saddam Hussain but which has now been restored. The Marshes have been approved as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2016.

    Turkey has not signed the UN Convention on the Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses but international customary law requires mutual agreement between Turkey, Iraq and Syria on the use of shared waterways. Turkey has failed to reach such an agreement with its riparian neighbours over the use of the Tigris. Instead it has taken advantage of conflicts in Iraq and Syria to push ahead with a dam building programme that threatens further conflict by allowing Turkey to control the flows of the Euphrates and Tigris. Ilisu is a central part of this political project.

    The Turkish government is now using its control over water as a weapon against those territories in Syria which have been liberated by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and which are now administered by the Democratic Federation of Northern Syria. In the spring and summer of 2017, as well as in recent weeks, Turkey cut the flow of the River Euphrates significantly, violating an agreement signed with the Syrian Government in 1987 to ensure a downstream flow of at least 500 m3/s at the Turkish-Syrian border. As documented in the attached report, only half of the agreed water amount was released.

    There are therefore well-founded fears that the impoundment of Ilisu will be similarly used as a weapon of war, further exacerbating conflict in the region. The Turkish government says that the dam is nearly completed; but, in our view, it is not too late to reconsider. There is no urgent need for the planned electricity from the Ilisu Project in Turkey and protests on the ground and internationally continue to attract increasing support.

    We request that the UK use its influence on Turkey to press for the impoundment of the Ilisu Dam Reservoir to be halted until agreements on downstream flows in the Tigris have been reached with the Iraqi and Syrian governments, the Democratic Federation of Northern Syria as well as affected people and critical civil society organizations in Turkey and Iraq. Negotiations should include the option not to operate the almost completed Ilisu Dam project. We believe that the UK can, and should, act in a mediating role.

    We look forward to hear from you and are open to share more our positions on the Ilisu Project.

    Yours Sincerely

Mesopotamian Ecology Movement
Initiative to Keep Hasankeyf Alive
The Corner House
Peace in Kurdistan Campaign
Solidarity Economy Association
Brighton Kurdistan Solidarity
Kurdish People’s Assembly UK
Roj – Kurdish Women’s Assembly UK
Kurdistan National Congress (KNK) UK
Jullie Ward MEP
Christine Blower, NUT International Secretary
Clare Baker, International Officer UNITE
Simon Dubbins, UNITE International Director
Doug Nicholls, General Secretary, General Federation of Trade Unions (GFTU)
Bert Schouwenburg, International Officer, GMB

Steve Sweeney, International Editor, Morning Star
Thomas Schmidt, Secretary General, ELDH European Association of Lawyers for Democracy and World Human Rights
Martha Mundy, Professor Emerita of Anthropology, LSE (in a personal capacity)
Yagmur Savran, Researcher at University of Bradford
Olga Vlagkouli, Project Architect
Rahila Gupta, journalist and writer
Dr Derek Wall, Lecturer in Political Economy, Goldsmith College
Dr Felix Padel, Oxford University
Lynn Wilde, University of Liverpool
Dr. Tom Wakeford, Coventry University
Peter Tatchell, human rights campaigner
John Hunt, journalist
Jonathan Bloch, writer
Antony Shephard, graphic designer
Les Levidow, Campaign Against Criminalising Communities (CAMPACC)
Stephen Smellie, Deputy Covenor, UNISON Scotland
Margaret Gallacher, Chairperson, South Lanarkshire Unison and Secretary of Scottish Solidarity with Kurdistan
Dr Sarah Glynn, Scottish Solidarity with Kurdistan
Sarah Parker, translator
Dr Dylan Musphy, teacher/historian
Fatma Kayhan, writer
Amber Huff, researcher
Salima Tashdemir, researcher
Pinar Akpinar, Sussex Kurdish Community
Jo Magpie, Journalist
Maude Casey, writer
Helen O’Neill, Social Worker
Brian Drummond, Minister
Martha Salter
Becky Hobbs
Meredith Tax, author, US
Kariane Westrheim, Professor, Department of Education, Faculty of Psychology, University of Bergen, Norway
Eirik Eiglad, New Compass Press, Norway
Dr. Gina Lennox, Alison Buckley, Zirian Fatah – Kurdish Lobby Australia

This letter and the campaign has our full support
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Re: HASANKEYF: Letter to UK PM using Ilisu Dam as a weapon

PostAuthor: Anthea » Mon May 28, 2018 1:04 pm

Photos for Hasankeyf

https://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/hasankeyf-diyarbakir

Please take a look at this wonderful place YOUR silence will be destroying
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Re: HASANKEYF: When it goes Kurdish pride goes with it

PostAuthor: Anthea » Mon May 28, 2018 8:35 pm

World Heritage site

A World Heritage site is a landmark or area which is selected by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as having cultural, historical, scientific or other form of significance, and is legally protected by international treaties. The sites are judged important to the collective interests of humanity.

To be selected, a World Heritage Site must be an already classified landmark, unique in some respect as a geographically and historically identifiable place having special cultural or physical significance (such as an ancient ruin or historical structure, building, city, complex, desert, forest, island, lake, monument, mountain, or wilderness area). It may signify a remarkable accomplishment of humanity, and serve as evidence of our intellectual history on the planet.

The sites are intended for practical conservation for posterity, which otherwise would be subject to risk from human or animal trespassing, unmonitored/uncontrolled/unrestricted access, or threat from local administrative negligence. Sites are demarcated by UNESCO as protected zones.[3] The list is maintained by the international World Heritage Program administered by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, composed of 21 states parties which are elected by their General Assembly.

The programme catalogues, names, and conserves sites of outstanding cultural or natural importance to the common culture and heritage of humanity. Under certain conditions, listed sites can obtain funds from the World Heritage Fund. The program began with the Convention Concerning the Protection of the World's Cultural and Natural Heritage, which was adopted by the General Conference of UNESCO on 16 November 1972. Since then, 193 state parties have ratified the convention, making it one of the most widely recognized international agreements and the world's most popular cultural program.

As of July 2017, 1,073 sites are listed: 832 cultural, 206 natural, and 35 mixed properties, in 167 states.[6][7] The Table of World Heritage Sites by country lists Italy as the home for the largest number of sites with 53, followed by China (52), Spain (46), France (43), Germany (42), India (36), Mexico (34) and United Kingdom and British Overseas Territories (31).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Heritage_site

Why does not World Heritage protect Hasankeyf
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Re: HASANKEYF: When it goes Kurdish pride goes with it

PostAuthor: Anthea » Tue Jun 12, 2018 9:46 pm

Turkey postpones filling of dam amid fears of water crisis in Iraq

Water levels of the Tigris reduced significantly since last week, sparking renewed panic among Iraqis

Turkey has postponed the filling of a large dam on the Tigris river until July as fears of major water shortages in Iraq increase.

Water levels of the Tigris river have reduced significantly since last week, sparking renewed panic among Iraqis as around 70 per cent of Iraq's water resources flow from neighbouring states, especially in the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers as they both flow through Turkey.

Turkish Forestry and Waterworks Minister Veysel Eroglu confirmed the decision was due to the holy month of Ramadan, Anadolu Agency reported.

But, Ankara started to fill the dam basin last week, a step that has come as a surprise to Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Al Abadi.

"The Turkish Prime Minister had promised me they would start filling the dam at the end of June, not the start, so I was surprised to see they started," Mr Al Abadi told a news conference.

"I am aware that they have elections on June 24 and perhaps need to get the support of farmers," he added, referring to Turkey's planned general elections for the presidency and the parliament.

Iraq’s minister of water resources, Hassan Al Janabi, said that meetings are ongoing between the two countries to ensure that enough water flows to Iraq during and after the filling of the reservoir behind the Ilisu dam.

In response, the Turkish Ambassador to Iraq, Fatih Yildiz, told reporters that Iraqis have nothing to "worry about as sufficient amount of water will continue to flow".

Mr Yildiz said that an agreement was signed on May 15 between the two countries to regulate the water flow.

Also, dams built in neighboring Iran on its tributaries to the Tigris have contributed to low water levels.

“The Ilisu reservoir is 10.4 billion cubic meters. Turkey can fill it in as little as six months. They have publicly committed to fill it slowly over two years to reduce the impact on Iraq,” Azzam Alwash, Iraqi hydraulic engineer who served as an adviser on the Mosul Dam, told The National.

Yet, he expressed that Iraq had failed to prepare itself adequately for this issue.

“I have been warning for over ten years and published an idea for Iraq to lease Ilisu and decommission Mosul dam,” Mr Azzam said, adding that all of Iraq will suffer including the marches.

In the 1950s Turkey proposed the building of the Ilisu Dam – a hydroelectric project – sparking an international outcry as many feared its construction would result in a dramatic reduction of the water level, prompting thousands of residents to resettle.

“It is a wakeup call for Iraq to start modernizing its irrigation methods before it is too late. It will result in the death of agriculture in the land where it was born,” Mr Azzam said.

https://www.thenational.ae/world/mena/t ... q-1.738488
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Re: HASANKEYF: When it goes Kurdish pride goes with it

PostAuthor: Anthea » Tue Jun 12, 2018 9:55 pm

Call to Turkey to suspend the implementation of the Ilisu project

Initiative to Keep Hasankeyf Alive and Hasankeyf called upon the Turkish Government to suspend immediately its implementation of the Ilisu HEPP Project, which is causing widespread cultural and environmental destruction.

Initiative to Keep Hasankeyf Alive and Hasankeyf Matters released a statement regarding the reports that the impoundment of the reservoir of the controversial Ilisu Dam on the Tigris River in the Kurdish region of Turkey has started.

The statement by the Initiative to Keep Hasankeyf Alive and Hasankeyf Matters is as follows;

“On June 1, 2018 news began to circulate that the impoundment of the reservoir of the controversial Ilisu Dam on the Tigris River in the Kurdish Southeast of the Republic of Turkey had started. The Turkish State Water Works (DSI) announced that with the closing of the first valves of the three diversion tunnels the filling of the reservoir had begun. This development overlapped with urgent news from Iraq, where the Tigris River had fallen to historically low levels. This situation has resulted in discussions that have become even more urgent in Iraq than discussion of the recent elections.

The drought in Iraq is not related to the Ilisu Dam and Hydroelectric Power Plant (HEPP) Project, which is still under construction and is one of the most controversial dam projects worldwide due to its expected grave destructive impacts on people, culture and nature. Work continues at different locations and has not progressed far enough to allow the impoundment of the huge reservoir. For example, the long bridge near the ancient city of Hasankeyf will not be completed before the beginning of 2019. Approximately six monuments in Hasankeyf are planned for relocation to New-Hasankeyf by the end of this year, provided that there is no delay (which has usually been the case). Furthermore, official disputes over the expropriation process are ongoing and have the potential to delay the project further. Nor have residential units in New-Hasankeyf been completed. Finally, there has been no clear indication yet that the hydroelectric power plant is ready to operate.

If we read the recent announcement carefully, the DSI states that the impoundment of water will actually begin with the closure of the third diversion tunnel. This cannot happen before six months, as the filling of each tunnel takes around 3 months, according to DSI statements. The capacity of the three tunnels is so big that since the completion of these tunnels in 2012, a second tunnel has been used to divert the flow of the Tigris River for days at a time. Therefore, the closure of one tunnel does not affect the level of water downstream.

In addition, it makes no sense operationally to start filling the reservoir in June, as the highest flow rate of the Tigris River is usually between March and April. In summer and fall, the water in the river is usually very low. Furthermore, as there has been between 10 and 20 percent less precipitation in the Tigris River basin due to climate change in recent years, water reserves in the entire region are shrinking.

The current crisis in Iraq is the result of decreasing precipitation over the past 20 years due to global climate change. The situation this year is particularly dire. Not only has the lack of snow in the mountains feeding the Tigris this winter contributed to the historically low water levels, but catastrophic water policies of all states in the Tigris River Basin have also played a significant role. The water projects with the most severe impacts include dams constructed in recent decades in the Turkish and Iranian part of the Tigris River basin, the current cutting of water in the rivers Shirvan and Small Zap coming from Iran, the Mosul Dam, intensive irrigation in North-Middle Iraq, and weak maintenance of water infrastructure within Iraq. It is sad to see that in and around Baghdad people can cross the Tigris by walking. But we, with the Save the Tigris and Iraqi Marshes Campaign, have urged regularly the public of Iraq in the last years that such a crisis will come if no measures are taken and dam building in upstream parts continues. Now it is happening.

Turkish government officials have stated in recent days that they will delay the impounding until July 1, 2018. However, since March 2018 they claim to take into consideration Iraqi concerns and delay the impoundment, but as technically the project is not ready to impound – see our argumentation above - this is only misleading news. Turkey refers to an action that it is not yet able to fulfill in order to suggest it is being flexible and cooperative. There are ample examples where the Turkish government has used dams as weapons against its downstream neighbors. While Turkey has not signed the UN Convention on Non-Navigational Use of International Watercourses from 1997, it does not feel to be bounded by international law to take into consideration people’s rights on the Tigris and Euphrates in Iraq and Syria. The Iraqi government should act promptly and firmly to use international legal and diplomatic mechanisms to protect the rights and interests of its citizens rights against Turkey and Iran.

Finally we call upon the Turkish Government to suspend immediately its implementation of the Ilisu HEPP Project, which is causing widespread cultural and environmental destruction, threatens the economic and social well-being of all people in the basin, and increases the potential for conflict. The worldwide civil society is requested to demand the cancellation of the Ilisu Project until there is a new democratic, participative and transparent process on this project in Turkey which also includes Iraq and Syria. It is never too late to stop such a destructive and controversial project from which people and nature will not benefit!”
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Re: For 20 years Kurds have FAILED to protect HASANKEYF

PostAuthor: Anthea » Mon Jun 18, 2018 12:52 pm

For more than 20 years Kurds have failed to protect Hasankeyf

HASANKEYF IS THE MOST IMPORTANT SITE ON KURDISH LAND

Yet Kurds have failed to protect this valuable site from Turkish destruction

HASANKEYF a World Heritage Site containing it's own eco system of unique flora and fauna found nowhere else in the world

HASANKEYF a 12,000 year old site that has been continually inhabited for it's entire life

HASANKEYF shamefully ignored by Kurds who much prefer to sit at home and watch TURKISH TV

HASANKEYF should be the focal point for Kurdish unity and liberation

HASANKEYF

a 12,000 years old area being destroyed

by a dam lasting only 50-70 years

HASANKEYF IGNORED AND DESTROYED

HASANKEYF :(( :(( :((
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Re: For 20 years Kurds have FAILED to protect HASANKEYF

PostAuthor: Anthea » Wed Jun 20, 2018 10:43 am

Although, my main interest has been in saving Hasankeyf, I am well aware that Turkey is desirous of building a great many more dams, mostly in Kurdish areas.

Turkey seems intent on destroying the beauty and biodiversity of many Kurdish areas X(


For Turkey's Alevi minority, dam-building plans threaten way of life

TUNCELI, (formally named Dersim until the barbaric Turks slaughtered most of the population) Baris Yildirim, a lawyer and activist, strolled across a manicured park on the edge of the Munzur River that runs through Tunceli, a small city in eastern Turkey.

On the other side of a fence is the Uzuncayir hydropower dam that was completed in 2010 and flooded a site sacred to Alevis, the country’s largest religious minority.

Yildirim, an Alevi living in the home of his ancestors - who revere nature - has been on a mission since 2008 to stop the government from building more dams in the province.

“This park was built to appease us by the company who built that dam,” Yildirim said bitterly. “But now we have to pray through a fence.”

Yildirum has filed lawsuits and won some cases over the years. His latest battle is to prevent the government seizing land for the Konaktepe dam, which would be located inside a nearby nature reserve.

Winning, he said, could mean saving the Alevi’s cultural heritage.

The founder of modern Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, saw dams as a way forward for the developing nation, and many of those now being built were planned decades ago.

Locals who oppose the dams have become victims of the country’s energy politics, said Ozer Meral Uc, an ecologist and member of the Munzur Flows Freely movement, a coalition of 40 civil society groups in Tunceli.

Officials have publicly said hydroelectric dams are needed to meet Turkey’s energy and water needs and reduce its dependency on countries that sell energy.

“The state wants to reduce its dependence on energy from foreign countries,” Uc said. “But the Konaktepe will flood people’s homes.”

Moreoever, water stored in dams could prevent drought for several years if needed, the government has said. Last year, water levels were at their lowest in nearly half a century.

LEGAL RACE

Making up about 15-20 percent of Turkey’s 79 million people, Alevis draw from Shi’a, Sufi and Anatolian folk traditions, practicing distinct rituals which can put them at odds with their Sunni Muslim counterparts, many of whom accuse them of heresy.

“The government is trying to assimilate us into Sunni Islam. There’s a project to kill our culture and heritage,” said Yildirim.

The government, which has held a series of workshops for Alevis to allow them to voice their concerns in an effort to reconcile tense relations, was unavailable for comment despite numerous emails and calls.

Four years ago, Yildirim won a lawsuit at the country’s highest court halting construction of the Konaktepe dam.

The court ruled the dam was illegal as it would cut through the Munzur National Park, an area rich in biodiversity, where 1,600 types of flora and fauna thrive.

Despite the ruling the government has continued to push forward with the project by buying and seizing land, Yildirim said.

HYDRO-PUSH

The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) has ramped up building dams - 111 in 2017 alone, local media said - despite an international outcry from environmentalists and local people.

When the government seizes land to build infrastructure deemed in the national interest, it is legally obliged to compensate landowners. When they refuse to sell, cases end up in court.

Despite the court ruling four years ago, the Resmi Gazete - which publishes laws and official announcements - said in 2016 the government would expropriate land in the mountains where the Konaktepe dam was going to be built.

Once completed, the dam would produce 1.2 percent of the country’s energy, worth $80 million annually, according to a 2009 report from the Istanbul Water Tribunal, an international body that resolves water conflicts.

Some people have already sold their land.

“Many of the people who sell their land don’t understand the consequences,” Yildirim said.

Back in 1985, Celal Kara’s father sold his land when one of the first Tunceli dams - the Mercan - was being built. Kara said he was duped.

“My father was convinced, because the government then told us that our village will look like Paris. But the trees were cut down. Nature was destroyed and we lost our village,” she said.

COMPLICATED HISTORY

The Konaktepe dam was one of a number of projects planned in 1998 in a deal between Turkey and the United States’ Department of Commerce.

The plan originally envisioned the involvement of EXIM bank, which underwrites risk for U.S. companies abroad, though the bank told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by email it was involved only in the pre-project phase.

Opaqueness around the project means it is unclear which foreign or local companies are involved, or even at what stage the process is at, activists said.

Sarah Bardeen, a spokeswoman for International Rivers, a U.S.-based advocacy group, said Tunceli locals were in a difficult position.

“Governments need to abide by their judiciary - and Turkey’s judiciary decisively halted the Konaktepe Dam in 2014. But the project is rearing its ugly head again,” Bardeen said.

“If the government won’t abide by the rules, locals and their allies will have to target the financiers and the construction companies that are moving forward with an illegal project against the wishes of the local people.”

Yildirim and other activists in the Munzur Flows Freely movement said solar power would prove much less damaging to their sacred environment and could meet their energy needs.

Protests against dam-building projects fizzled out after the government fined protesters in Tunceli and elsewhere following the attempted coup in 2016 when rogue elements in the military tried to overthrow President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Turkey has been in a state of emergency since then.

In the Ovacik district of Tunceli, snow-capped mountains loom over an Alevi holy site, where young men and women in jeans and sweaters light candles and place them in the crevices of soot-filled steps on the edge of the Munzur River.

Nearby, Yurdanur Toprak, a mother of two college-aged daughters, cooks gozleme - a vegetable-filled dough. Her cheeks red from the heat, Toprak said they did not need dams.

"The fish will die, our nature will be damaged." (Reporting by Fariba Nawa. Additional reporting by Ozge Sebzeci in Tunceli. Editing by Robert Carmichael and Astrid Zweynert @azweynert. Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women's rights, trafficking, property rights, climate change and resilience. Visit thisisplace.org)

https://uk.reuters.com/article/turkey-l ... KL8N1Q2670
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Re: HASANKEYF is on KURDISH land it belongs to KURDS

PostAuthor: Anthea » Sun Jul 08, 2018 8:48 pm

Dams are a danger for Kurdistan

Kurdistan geography is destroyed by dams and HES.

Despite the countless protests the AKP government continues to work to destroy the historical, cultural heritage and nature of Kurdistan's geography.

Within the framework of the Southeastern Anatolia Project (GAP), 80 percent of the construction of the Silvan Dam planned in 2009 is now completed.

Eight dams and hydroelectric power plants with 23 irrigation facilities, will begin to collect water in two years.

Silvan Dam, which is 175,5 meters high, is also the biggest dam in the region, after the Atatürk Dam.
While 16 more security dams are planned to be built in Kurdistan, 95 percent of the Ilisu Dam in Hasankeyf, one of the most controversial and protested against project, has now been completed.

Güner Yanlıç, a member of the Hevsel Protection Platform, explained the purpose of the dams built in Kurdistan: "This policy implemented in the 1940s came to light under the name of the Southeastern Anatolia Project. Eleven large-scale security dams were planned under this Southeastern Anatolia Project".

This project, said Yanlıç, can be considered both an "extension of the security policy, as well as a project to create cheap workers in big cities by cutting off social communication and forcing people to migrate".

Turkey has been implementing an energy security policy for over 50 years, said Yalnıç.

"Since the first day, the authorities have said that they are building dams so that the water necessary for agriculture can be obtained. But although the people have mainly accepted this rethoric it us clear that in the irrigation area salting occurs in the soil due to excessive evaporation".

According to Yalnıç there are more than enough evidences proving that the energy production through the dams is actually destroying fields and making agriculture difficult. Evidence of this is that "we have to import products as potatoes, onions, wheat, in other words very basic products from other countries as we cannot produce them anymore", said Yalnıç.

50 villages to end up under water

Yanlıç reminded that Kurds have always protested against these projects.
Kurds have done NOTHING to prevent these dams being built
(Angry Anthea)

He pointed out that the historic Geliyê Godernê, located between the provinces of Silvan, Lice, Kulp and Hazro, will be submerged by water once the Silvan dam, the second biggest dam in Kurdistan, is completed.

He pointed out that this historic place together with its natural habitats will be completely inundated.

He said all of the districts would be affected by the dam, and that about 50 villages would be under water.

In the end, said Yanlıç, it is clear that the government is not interested in cultural and historical heritage. It has proved it with the Ilisu Dam which submerged the historical site of Hasankeyf.

Furthermore the government is not interested in people and has no problems in forcing thousands of citizens to migrate, to abandon their life style as well as their homes.


MILLIONS of Kurds sit on their backsides and do NOTHING to prevent the destruction of Hasankeyf :((

Kurds should be ASHAMED of themselves X(
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Re: MILLIONS of lazy Kurds do NOTHING to save Hasankeyf

PostAuthor: Anthea » Tue Jul 10, 2018 1:59 pm

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Re: MILLIONS of lazy Kurds do NOTHING to save Hasankeyf

PostAuthor: Anthea » Fri Jul 27, 2018 2:28 am

New caves discovered in Hasankeyf

Hundreds of new caves have been found beneath present day Hasankeyf.

The new caves were found during the excavations for the Ilisu Dam that will submerge the 12-thousand-year-old site on the banks of the Tigris River.

The excavation and debris cleaning works have been carried out in an area located in the Sahada neighborhood, and used as a garden for centuries.

The new caves, over hundred, and some on 5 different levels, emerged during these works, confirming the inestimable value of the Hasankeyf site.

Photos of the new caves discovered were shared by the city residents on social media.

These caves, which have been underground for thousands of years, will be flooded just like all others as the Ilisu Dam project continues its course.

Hasankeyf has a unique history closely interwoven with the Tigris river, and it’s to many extents even richer than Ephesus, Troy and Cappadocia. Furthermore, Hasankeyf fulfills 9 of the 10 UNESCO’s criteria. Yet UNESCO said nothing against the destruction of the important historical site.

The Ilisu Dam project means that 80,000 people will have their houses destroyed and will be forced to resettle in another area, in houses built by TOKI (Governmental Mass Housing Administration). The AKP Government only sees Ilisu as one of the strategic tools of economic growth in the building sector.
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Re: MILLIONS of lazy Kurds do NOTHING to save Hasankeyf

PostAuthor: Anthea » Wed Aug 01, 2018 9:28 pm

Turkey’s Ilisu Dam will flood 12,000-year-old Hasankeyf settlement

Link to slideshow:

http://www.rudaw.net/english/kurdistan/010820181
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Re: Hasankeyf oldest city in the entire world is on Kurdish

PostAuthor: Anthea » Thu Aug 02, 2018 2:35 pm

    Hasankeyf

The oldest continually occupied city in the entire world is on Kurdish land

    Hasankeyf

A place to be PROUD of

    Hasankeyf

A place that should be protected for future generations of Kurds

    Hasankeyf

A place disgustingly lazy Kurds are allowing to be destroyed

    Hasankeyf

This destruction brings SHAME on ALL Kurds from Northern Kurdistan

    Hasankeyf

The destruction of HASANKEYF is the worst crime Kurds have committed

    Hasankeyf

Kurds need a NEW leaders to protect Kurdish people and Kurdish lands

    Hasankeyf

Kurds are allowing 12,000 years of history to be destroyed

    Hasankeyf

Leaders come and go and are soon forgotten

    Hasankeyf

Should be allowed to survive another 12,000 years

    Hasankeyf

Forget HDP
Forget Ocalan
Remember
    KUR DIS TAN
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Re: Hasankeyf oldest city in the entire world is on Kurdish

PostAuthor: Anthea » Mon Aug 06, 2018 8:50 pm

History looted in Hasankeyf: Artuqid-era Bath moved

The Artuqid-era Bath in Hasankeyf has been moved to the Hasankeyf New Cultural Park Area

As historic articles are damaged in Batman’s Hasankeyf district in favor of the Ilisu Dam, the 1.500-tonne Artuqid-era Bath has been moved to the Hasankeyf New Cultural Park Area. A SPMT with 256 wheels was used in the transportation of the historic hamam which was placed next to the Zeynelbey Tomb which had been transported last year.

CEREMONY UNDER BLOCKADE

The gendarmerie and the police blockaded the area where the ceremony was held. There were no participants other than workers and official protocol.

Minister for Agriculture and Forestry Bekir Pakdemirli said: “We moved the Zeynelbey Tomb before, and now we’re moving the Artuqid Bath. In July, we closed the first caps and started the water reservoir efforts on Mr. President’s orders. We will close the second caps when the moving efforts are done.”
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