Potsdam, 15.3.2011 – A new report by organisations from Germany and Turkey reveals the huge extent to which Turkish dam policy violates human rights. The report was submitted to the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights yesterday, on the International Day of Action against Dams. The committee will consider at its next session in May 2011 the Turkish government’s compliance with its obligations under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. The Covenant constitutes binding law and inter alia prohibits to deprive people of their livelihoods. 
  
„For the first time the impacts of large dams are assessed from a strict human rights point of view“, states Heike Drillisch, author of the report and coordinator of CounterCurrent, the Ilisu Campaign in Germany. „As the Turkish government has ratified the Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in 2003, it is obliged to drastically change its dam policy.“ 
  
In their report the groups conclude that the Turkish government violates numerous rights covered by the Covenant, including those to food, water, housing and health. The study analyses Turkish legislation such the laws on expropriation and resettlement and some environmental laws as well as several cases including the Ilisu dam, for which the German, Austrian and Swiss governments had granted export cover from 2007 to 2009, dams in the Coruh and Munzur valleys as well as the Yortanli dam, which in February 2011 submerged the antique spa Allianoi, and the impacts of a small hydro-electric power plant in Southwestern Turkey. The report also gives special attention to the situation of nomads, whose culture is under great threat from the construction of dams, and the right to a healthy environment. 
  
„The Turkish government plans the construction of approximately 2,000 dams and hydro-electric power plants in addition to existing 2,000 ones without any assessment of their cumulative impacts on the entire country“, states Engin Yilmaz, Director General of the Turkish nature organisation Doga Dernegi. „The implementation of these plans would not only cause environmental destruction on an unprecedented scale, but also massively violate of the rights of up to two million people.“ 
  
„All the dams that have been constructed to date show the same pattern: there is no meaningful participation of the affected population, compensation levels are not sufficient to restore livelihoods, and income restoration programs have not been created”, states Ercan Ayboga, international spokesperson of the Initiative to Keep Hasankeyf Alive. „This constitutes a severe violation of Turkey’s obligations under the Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and we hope that the Committee will make it unmistakably clear to the Turkish government that this is unacceptable.” 
  
On occasion of the International Day of Action Against Dams and for Rivers, Water and Life actions took place all over the world to raise awareness of the severe impacts of dams on humans and the environment. In Turkey actions took place in Istanbul, Rize, Izmit, Antalya, Batman, Sirnak and Tunceli. In Spain, activists have alerted the shareholders attending the Annual General Meeting of BBVA, a major Spanish bank, to the fact that through its Turkish partner bank Garantibank BBVA is supporting the destructive Ilisu dam. 
  
The report Dam construction in Turkey and its impact on economic, cultural and social rights is available at here. 
  
It was compiled by CounterCurrent in cooperation with 
Çoruh Basin Environment Conservation Union 
Doga Dernegi 
Free Munzur Initiative 
Initiative to Keep Hasankeyf Alive 
Platform for the Protection of Yuvarlakçay (YKP) 
Yelda KULLAP, Lawyer, Member of the Allianoi Initiative Group 
Pervin ÇOBAN, Member of the Association for Assistance and Solidarity with Sarıkeçili Yuruks 
Bedrettin Kalın, Member of the Green Artvin Society 
  
Information on the Committee on Econimic, Social and Cultural Rights:http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cescr/ 
Information on the International Day of Action Against Dams and for Rivers, Water and Life: http://www.internationalrivers.org/en/node/6163 
  
Contacts: 
Heike Drillisch (CounterCurrent – GegenStrömung): +49 – 177 – 345 2611, 
            Heike.drillisch@gegenstroemung.org 
Engin Yilmaz (Doga Dernegi): +90 – 312 – 481 2545, 
            engin.yilmaz@dogadernegi.org 
Ercan Ayboga (Initiative to Keep Hasankeyf Alive): +49 – 163 – 757 7847, 
            e.ayboga@gmx.net 

Alexander Christie-Miller Allianoi, Turkey The stunning mosaics, courtyards, and passageways of the 1,800-year-old Roman spa complex of Allianoi were so dear to archaeologist Ahmet Yaras that he named his daughter after the Ilya River that ran by them.As he now witnesses its waters rise and engulf the ruins he has fought so hard to save, he says their disappearance beneath the reservoir of a new irrigation dam feels like the loss of a child.

"This is the murder of history," says Dr. Yaras, who formerly headed the excavation team that found some 11,000 artifacts during a decade of digging at Allianoi – work that unearthed only 20 percent of the site.The Yortanli dam is part of an unprecedented hydro­engineering program launched by the Turkish government to maintain the country's rapid economic development.

It is also one of the flash points in the battle between Turkey's government and an increasingly vocal lobby of activists and academics who fear the plans will exact a devastating toll on the country's rich historical and ecological wealth.

1,300 new plants to power Turkey's economic developmentMert Bilgin, a professor specializing in energy policy at Istanbul's Bahcesehir University, acknowledges that poor oversight has maximized the environmental damage associated with the projects. But he says Turkey's need to increase its energy output could hardly be more urgent as the country strives to fulfill its dream of becoming a major economic power.

In 2010, energy imports cost $40 billion, accounting for nearly half the country's foreign trade deficit. This cost is set to soar since Turkey needs to double its power capacity by 2020.

"The negative impact of energy expenditures on trade balance, and consequently on the current account deficit, is extremely important for the Turkish economy," says Professor Bilgin. "Many reports point out that Turkey may face electricity shortages shortly if it cannot develop energy infrastructure as much as its economic growth."

The Department for State Hydraulic Works is expected to invest some $71.5 billion in dam building by 2030, an investment that goes well beyond the long-running Southeast Anatolia Project. It includes a program to realize the country's full hydroelectric potential with 1,300 new plants.

New bill would endanger 80 percent of protected landMany archaeological and environmental hot spots have already been threatened.

Now, a nature protection bill redrafted by the government in September and currently in parliament will abolish the country's largest network of nature reserves, endangering 80 percent of currently protected land. It will also do away with a set of regional culture- and nature-protection councils that in the past have sometimes held in check the government's dam-building schemes.

All conservation decisions will be placed in the hands of a committee dominated by appointees of the Ministry of Environment and Forests, the main engine behind the hydroengineering program.
Turkey claims the draft law is part of its efforts to join the European Union, but the EU Commission has condemned the legislation. Some 200 Turkish groups have also come together to oppose it.
Guven Eken, president of the Turkish advocacy group the Nature Association, worries that, if passed, it could trigger "the mass destruction of biodiversity in Turkey" and a wave of government-backed development in formerly protected areas.The net effect, he says, will be the end of all restrictions: "In the current political climate, we can see that the decisions of this committee aren't likely to be in favor of preserving human culture or environmental diversity. It's going to destroy our cultural heritage, our natural heritage, our quality of life."

Why politicians love big damsProf. Serhan Oksay, who specializes in environmental economics at Istanbul's Kadir Has University, says the pursuit of large-scale hydro­engineering projects is ingrained in Turkey's political culture.

The founder of modern Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, proposed harnessing the energy of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers more than 80 years ago, and influential past premiers like Suleyman Demirel and Turgut Ozal once spearheaded energy and infrastructure programs while still state-employed engineers.

"Since then, building dams for irrigation purposes or generating electricity has been deemed necessary for building up a prosperous country," says Professor Oksay. "Anyone with the ambition of building a successful political career seems to be in favor of such schemes."

Turkey's leaders have done little to hide their impatience with opposition to dam-building policies. Most vocal is Environment Minister Veysel Eroglu, widely regarded as the driving force behind the current program. Following the decision to bury the Allianoi baths last year, he described them as "just one pillar and a fountain."

'These can be found anywhere,' Mr. Eroglu said. "No one was aware of them before we dug them out. My job is to build dams, but we tried to protect this place."

Still-functioning thermal bathsIt's true that when exploratory work started in 1998 as part of a survey for the dam, Yaras had no idea that beneath a field near Bergama lay one of the world's most extensive and best-preserved ancient health settlements.

But once archaeologists found the still-functioning thermal baths, as well as a hospital containing bronze medical instruments from the 2nd century AD, the following decade was consumed by a race to catalog the ruins and force Ankara to scrap the dam.

Authorities first buried the ruins in sand – a move they said would protect the ruins, although archaeologists have disagreed. Then they began flooding the area on the final day of 2010. The rising water is now some six feet deep. Eventually, the baths will sit in nearly 100 feet of silt and water.

"The most painful part may be that we will never know what knowledge we may have found," says Yaras. "I feel like a scientist who was on the verge of a major discovery, only to be banned from his laboratory."

Yaras and others embroiled in this bitter debate surrounding the future of Turkey's natural and cultural heritage doubt the government will concede an inch to conservation demands.

"Allianoi is only an example," says Yaras. "They will ruin many other precious sites."[The Christian Science Monitor]

Representatives of more than 150 civil society organizations will protest on January 24 the contradictory draft law on "Nature Conservation", in-front of the Turkish Parliament. Contradicting with its name, this draft legislation opens all threatened habitats and protected areas to development. Not only environmental civil society organizations but also others working on education, health and human rights will join the protest to raise their deep concerns.

Reactions against the draft law on “Nature and Biodiversity Conservation” are increasingly growing accross Turkey. This draft law will lead up all kind of investments, notably dams and hydro-electrical power plants, across the Anatolia, including conservation areas like national parks and other threatened habitats currently protected by law. NGOs argue that such an attempt clearly interferes with the principles and obligations of international conventions Turkey has signed.

Representatives of more than 150 NGOs will protest the this draft law in a mass press release with the “We won’t give Anatolia” slogan, in-front of the Turkish Parliament on January 24th at 11 am, demanding to withdraw of the
draft law in no time.

“The Draft Law on Nature and Biodiversity Conservation which leads up the destruction of our land, our water and our vast biological and cultural diversity is the execution warrant of Anatolia. Peoples of Anatolia will not let this happen.” said Pervin Çoban Savran, the leader of the last Anatolian nomads, Sarıkeçili Yörüks.

“The rulers should clearly know that no one authorizes the politicians to destroy our natural and cultural heritage. The government has to realize that Turkey is a signatory of many international conventions such Convention on Biological Diversity, Bern and Ramsar and this draft law is clearly not in line with the requirements of these international conventions. Therefore, this draft law must be withdrawn in no time.” she added, speaking on behalf of the
groups.

Dr. Güven Eken, President of Doga, BirdLife in Turkey, stated, “It rarely happens that NGOs working in different areas come together to raise their concerns on a draft law. This time, NGOs ranging from local groups to those
with hundreds of thousands of members have united to stop this draft act. Not only environmental NGOs, but also other key groups working on education, health and human rights joined this partnership. The civil society in Turkey
is clearly against this law and we therefore expect the government of Turkey withdraws this law immediately from the parliament.”


Please contact Engin Yılmaz of Doga Dernegi for more information:

engin.yilmaz@dogadernegi.org +90 312 481 25 45

Turkish Water Assembly realized its second general meeting in Antalya’s Alakır Valley without using electricity.

Members from various regions of Turkey gathered in a traditional tent (named Sarıkeçili kıl çadırı) in Taurus Mountains’ Alakır Valley. The General Meeting, bringing together civil initiatives combating against hydroelectric power stations in Turkey, was carried out only by making fire and without using electricity.

During the meeting, the new board of the Assembly was elected and 2011 yearly plans as well as targets were established. The Alakır Valley, where the meeting was held, is in danger because of eight planned hydroelectric power stations.

Underlining that people from all around Turkey struggle to protect water, Pervin Sarvan, elected as the new spokesperson to the assembly, said, “We all know that there wouldn’t be life where water does not exist. That’s why for Anatolian people and nature this is a life and death struggle. The fact that water being sold to private sector should not only be the problem of people living in rural areas, it should also be the problem of those living in the cities because it doesn’t mater where we live, nature is our only resource to fulfill our needs.

Savran, emphasizing that Ministry of Environment and Forestry and those who govern Turkey should give an ear to ‘We’ll nor give up our water’ statement, said that Anatolian people are determined. “If they gather for a purpose this should be taken seriously. Those who govern this country should immediately change their minds on selling the water that runs free and gives life to nature. Because these decisions are like a death decrees. We will never give up on our water and nature.”

Turkish initiatives report at European Parliament and Commission

Brussels, Nov 18 2010 | ECA watch

Today the EU received unusual visitors from Turkey. Not high ranking politicians or entrepreneurs from Ankara, but 20 representatives of anti dam movements from all regions of Turkey. They delivered first hand reports to parliamentarians and the commission on hydroelectric power plants and their devastating impacts on the people, nature and cultural goods. And they spoke about their resistance. Together with China and Brazil, Turkey is the country with most hydroelectric projects in planning. The government of Turkey intends to build approximately 1,500 additional dams and thus stop the flow of practically every river in the country. "The resistance against Ilisu grew to a resistance against many more projects. The EU must support these initiatives and act upon Turkey to stop this flood of dams", says Ulrich Eichelmann from ECA Watch Austria.

Under the motto „Water Politics in Turkey - A Challenge for EU-Turkey Relations" a conference of another type is taking place today in the European Parliament in Brussels. European parliamentarians and representatives of the Commission received first hand reports on the situation at the Turkish rivers. For once not the Ilisu dam stood in the focus of attention, but many other projects which are mostly unknown in the West. Approximately 20 affected persons from 13 Turkish organisations spoke of planned dams, their impacts and the resistance against them. They came from all parts of Turkey, from the rivers Coruh, Yortanli (Allianoi), Munzur, Tigris, Alakir, Loc, Yuvarlakcay. In these valleys alone 598 new dams are to be constructed. Mrs. Pervin Coban Savran, representative of the nomads in the Taurus Mountains, told about the impacts of dams on her people. The reservoirs destroy their pasture and cut off their traditional migratory routes. Nonetheless, they were neither informed nor consulted.

The Turkish government usually does not inform the affected people or assess the impacts on nature and cultural goods as would be necessary. Ankara intends to build more than 1,500 dams in the next 20-25 years. This would entail the displacement of more than 100,000 persons, the destruction of almost all ecological lifelines and cultural treasures. „The Turkish dam policies violate European standards. We ask the EU to support us in our engagement against the devastating flood of dams in Turkey. We need help", said the representatives of the anti dam movements.

Participating organisations: Alakir River Platform, Allianoi Movement, Coruh Basin Conservation Union, Doga Dernegi, Free Munzur Initiative, Green Artvin Society, Initiative to Keep Hasankeyf Alive, Loc River Platform, TEMA Foundation, Turkish Water Assembly, Yuvarlakcay Platform.

The conference was organized by ECA Watch Austria and the European Greens and was supported of representatives of the conservative, socialist and liberal parties.

Victims of the hydroelectrical power plant (HEPP) and dam policy of Turkey protested the Minister Veysel Eroğlu infront of the Turkish Ministery of Environment.

25 June 2010, Ankara, Turkey - Victims of HEPP projects from more than 50 regions came together infront of the Ministery of Environment of Turkey to protest the Minister Veysel Eroğlu. Minister Eroğlu is being accused of being the key person behind more than 1700 HEPP and dam projects that have severe effects on local people, cultural heritage and nature of Turkey.

Local groups campaigning against HEPP and dam projects in all regions of Turkey had formed the Turkish Water Assembly on January 17th 2010. Coming together in a common protest infront of the Ministery of Environment for the first time, the members of the Turkish Water Assembly requested that the Ministery shall stop the river ecocide in Turkey immediately. The group demanded that the Minister Veysel Eroğlu should be made redundant because of his unacceptable and anti-democratic enforcing of his water policy.

During the protest, victims of HEPPs and dams from the valleys of Eastern Blacksea Region, Yuvarlakçay, Hasankeyf-Tigrisa River, Göksu Valley, Munzur Valley, Düzce, Küre Mountains, Çoruh Basin, Macahel, Eskişehir, Allianoi, Havran and West Taurus Mountains were present collectively. During the protest, signs with "Stop Eroğlu!" and "Stop River Ecocide!" slogans were carried representing each river valley. Some of the protestors were present in their traditional clothing highlighting their native cultures destroyed by the epidemy of HEPP and dam projects. Mascots of bats from the Havran River of which the caves were submerged by a dam and endangered Euphrates turtle who lives in Hasankeyf at the Tigris River were also placed in the protest.

Talking in the name of representatives of more than 50 rivers, Lawyer Yakup Okumuşoğlu, a member of the Turkish Water Assembly said, "Nature of Turkey is facing an ecocide that has been never experienced in its history. The main cause of this unacceptable situation is that the rivers and streams which gives life to our land have become subjects of an epidemy HEPP and dam projects. More than 1700 HEPP and dam projects were ensuingly planned all rivers with no or very little natural water flow left for the living of local people, maintaining of the cultural diversity and nature. Construction of many projects have already started. Rivers and river basins of Turkey have become subject for purely commercial development, with no considerations on the rural issues and the environment. The illegal aspects of these investments have also been confirmed many times by the court decisions throughout Turkey. However, the Ministery of Environment insists consistently with proceeding this HEPP and dam policy with no change. Therefore, even court decisions involving the suspencion or cancelation of HEPP and dam projects are not implamented. Such an attitude and policy is unacceptable for any national and international standards."

Turkish Minister of Environment is very far from meeting his duties and responsibilities to conserve Turkey's nature and ironicly, he has become the main defender of this unacceptable HEPP and dam policy Therefore, he has to be immediately made redundant from his position. Taking into account that Turkey is currently in the process of harmonizing environmental chapter of the EU acquis, we clearly see that the water policy of Eroğlu is causing a clear obstacle towards delivering any meaningful outcome from the negotiations with the EU. Energy production cannot be generated by imposing this current water policy on people, cultural heritage and nature of Turkey. Currently, thousands of people throughout Turkey are negatively effected by this totaly anti-democratic and ad-hoc water policy. We can not sacrifice the democratic rights of people and the right to survive of the nature of Turkey for energy production. Water is needed for life that depens on it and not for HEPPs and dams. Water belongs to nature. We urge the government to stop all HEPP and dam constructions until a new water policy considering water dependency of people, animals, plants and ecosystems is established," continued Okumuşoğlu, indicating the requests of the Turkish Water Assembly.

Communication
Serhat Demirkol
Secretariat of the Turkish Water Assembly
Email: sumeclisi@gmail.com

ANNEX - LOCAL GROUPS JOINED THE PRESS RELEASE OF THE TURKISH WATER ASSEMBLY

Akseki Gümüşdal
Alakır River
Allianoi
Andon
Streams of Ardanuç 
Arhavi
Artvin Meydancık
Barhal Valley
Birecik
Borçka
Cimil
Çatalzeytin - Akçay
Çaykara Solaklı
Çit Stream
Çoruh Valley
Dalaman River
Dicle Valley
Erenler Village
Fındıklı Arılı
Fındıklı Çağlayan
Fırtına Valley
Girlevik Waterfall
Giresun Çanakçı
Giresun Keşap
Gölyaka Düzce
Görele
Güneysu
Gürgen
Avatars from Gürleyik
Hasankeyf
Havran River
Hemşin
İkizdere
İspir Aksu River
Kaş Gömbe
Kılıçkaya
Korkuteli Sürekler
Loç Valley
Macahel
Melet River
Munzur Valley
Streams of Murgul
Papart Valley
Saklıkent
Salarha
Göksu Valley, Migration Route of Sarıkeçili People
Senoz Valley
Streams of Şavşat
Tonya Fol River
Tortum Valley
Uzungöl
Yusufeli
Yuvarlakçay

Victims of current water policies in Turkey came together in İkizdere, Rize, for the first general meeting on January 16th-17th and established the Turkish Water Assembly in İkizdere, Rize. Participants from 81 counties elected the executive committee: Güneşin Oya Aydemir from Çanakkale, Berna Babaoğlu Ulutaş from Muğla, Pervin Çoban from Konya, Güven Eken and Ümit Gürses from İstanbul, Kadem Ekşi from Rize, Hediye Gündüz from Antalya, Bedrettin Kalın from Artvin and Yakup Okumuşoğlu from Zonguldak.
The Turkish government wrongly claims that not exploiting the potential energy from the country’s rivers would be a waste; on the contrary, the assembly believes that any human interference in the natural environment, without due consideration of natural flows within the ecosystem creates problems.

Turkish Water Assembly was established on 16-17 January 2010 by NGOs, lawyers, scientists and local people in order "to enable a new water policy ensuring the public possession of the water and reclamation of the current water administration, providing constitutional security for the Nature rights."

On behalf of the TurkeyTurkish Water CongressAssembly Executive Committee, Güven Eken said: “At the moment, the companies are carrying out construction on our streams and rivers - the source of life - unlawfully and without any sort of planning. This amounts to a massacre of the country’s streams. The congress has been established to stop this massacre and any intervention that will disturb the cycle of water in the nature”.
After the General Meeting, the Turkish Water Assembly published its manifesto.