Ilısu Dam is one of the 21 dams of the Southeastern Anatolia Project of Turkey. Located on the Tigris river it is the largest hydroelectric power plant of the project. It is estimated that the dam will create a reservoir with a maximum volume of 10.4 billion m³ and a surface area of 313 km² creating a power capacity of 1,200 MW and is expected to produce 3,800 GWh of power per year.

Cultural Impact

The completion of the Ilısu Dam would cause the flooding of the ancient city of Hasankeyf a city with more than 10,000 years of history. The Kurdish Human Rights Project (KHRP) states that:

The town is of particular cultural significance to the Kurdish people: the delegation found a widespread perception that the GAP project, and Ilısu in particular, is motivated primarily by a desire to destroy the Kurds as an ethnic group by destroying their most important cultural sites.The Ilisu Dam – A Human Rights Disaster In The Making on khrp.org

According to the KHRP, between 50 and 68 hamlets and villages will be flooded affecting approximately 25,000 local people. An additional 57 villages will have their land partially flooded.

Many villages have reportedly been evacuated at gunpoint by the Turkish authorities, and in many cases houses have been burnt to the ground.

See also

• Ilısu Dam Campaign
• Kurdish Human Rights Project
• Cultural genocide

Notes

External links

• www.gap.gov.tr - Official GAP web site – English
• www.gapturkiye.gen.tr/english/current.html Current status of GAP as of june 2000
• Environmental Impact Assessment Report Introduction PDF
• Environmental Impact Assessment Report Project Background and Description PDF
• Ilısu Consortium Official Web Site
• http://www.ilisu.org.uk/ Ilısu Dam Campaign
• Ilisu Hydroelectric Project on pbs.org
• www.khrp.org/publish/p1999/IlisuReport.htm The Ilısu Dam - A Human Rights Disaster in the Making

Dams in Turkey

Ilısu-Staudamm | Barrage d'Ilısu