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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The Kurdish town of Hasankeyf in southern Turkey has thrived by the Tigris River for 12,000 years.
“I’m 60 years old, I was born in here. My father is 80 years old, he was born here too, our children were born here. Our land is going to be submerged. Our homes and fields are going to be sunk, and there is not going to be any compensation,” says Nejdet Sezgin, a member of Mesopotamia Ecology Movement.
The dam forms part of the huge Southeastern Anatolian Project (GAP), the largest and costliest project in Turkey’s history.
GAP has caused outrage in downstream Iraq, which has suffered from increasingly severe droughts in recent years. Water politics remain high on the agenda at Iraq-Turkey bilateral meetings.
Aysha Ajar, a member of parliament for the pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party (HDP), believes the drowning of Hasankeyf is symbolic of a wider oppression of Kurds in Turkey.
“The Justice and Development Party (AKP) said it will build a dam in Hasankeyf. We see not only the physical fight against Kurds, but the fight against the history of Kurds, Kurdistan and its language. They want to eliminate us.”
Several ancient buildings, including a 1,500 metric-tonne Artuqid bathhouse and the famed tomb of Zeynel Bey have been carefully moved out of harm’s way.
Turkish authorities say they are doing everything necessary to secure and safeguard all heritage that could be damaged or submerged.
“We have carried out archeological excavations in the region of the dam, identified the historic sites and developed projects to protect them,” Water and Forests Minister Veysel Eroglu told AFP at the launch of the project in 2017.
But the imminent filling of the Ilisu dam by the Turkish government will flood the town, submerging its history. Thousands of people face displacement.
“I’m 60 years old, I was born in here. My father is 80 years old, he was born here too, our children were born here. Our land is going to be submerged. Our homes and fields are going to be sunk, and there is not going to be any compensation,” says Nejdet Sezgin, a member of Mesopotamia Ecology Movement.
The dam forms part of the huge Southeastern Anatolian Project (GAP), the largest and costliest project in Turkey’s history.
GAP has caused outrage in downstream Iraq, which has suffered from increasingly severe droughts in recent years. Water politics remain high on the agenda at Iraq-Turkey bilateral meetings.
Aysha Ajar, a member of parliament for the pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party (HDP), believes the drowning of Hasankeyf is symbolic of a wider oppression of Kurds in Turkey.
“The Justice and Development Party (AKP) said it will build a dam in Hasankeyf. We see not only the physical fight against Kurds, but the fight against the history of Kurds, Kurdistan and its language. They want to eliminate us.”
Several ancient buildings, including a 1,500 metric-tonne Artuqid bathhouse and the famed tomb of Zeynel Bey have been carefully moved out of harm’s way.
Turkish authorities say they are doing everything necessary to secure and safeguard all heritage that could be damaged or submerged.
“We have carried out archeological excavations in the region of the dam, identified the historic sites and developed projects to protect them,” Water and Forests Minister Veysel Eroglu told AFP at the launch of the project in 2017.
Reporting by Mashalla Dakak
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