Mr. Steinmeier - Stop German Funding for Ilisu Dam

The planned Ilisu Dam on the Tigris River in southeast Turkey will displace at least 50,000 people, most of them Kurdish, and flood the 10,000-year-old town of Hasankeyf. The dam is extremely controversial within Turkey and around the world because of its massive negative environmental, social and cultural impacts.

Last year, the German government granted export credit guarantees for the project. It justified this support by attaching environmental and social conditions to the contracts, claiming that if the conditions are met, the displaced people would not be impoverished and the ancient cultural art would not be destroyed.

Now, revelations in a new report show that these conditions are not being followed. In fact, the report highlights that the social and environmental risks of the project are as immense as has been anticipated by critics - people will indeed become impoverished and an ancient culture will be destroyed.

Germany is well-known in Turkey for its democratic system and its respect for human rights and the environment. This image would be severely tainted if Germany tolerates the violation of contractual obligations and international standards because of diplomatic concerns. This move would also weaken democratic forces in Turkey who seek to increase respect for international human rights and environmental standards in Turkey.

We ask Dr. Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the German Secretary of State, to withdraw the German government's financial support for the Ilisu Dam project before it destroys the lives of the people and ancient history of Turkey.

For more information on the campaign to stop the Ilisu Dam, visit the following websites: WEED, www.stopilisu.com, BankTrack, ECA Watch Austria, Berne Declaration, Initative to Keep Hasankeyf Alive, and International Rivers.

To see more photos of Hasankeyf by Dick Osseman, click here.