Hasankeyf Dam Reservoir Grows According to New Satellite Images

Water retention in the Ilısu Dam that will cause the ancient city to submerge into the water began in July.

İstanbul

Hasankeyf Dam Reservoir Grows According to New Satellite Images

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The Initiative to Keep Hasankeyf Alive has published new satellite images from Hasankeyf area, saying that the dam reservoir has been growing since water retention began in late July.

Twenty villages around the dam area have been flooded so far, according to the satellite images dated September 9. In a recent report, the initiative said a total of 85 villages will be submerged into the water when the dam becomes fully operational.

"If this continues the dam reservoir will soon reach Hasankeyf and will increase the ecological, social and cultural destruction," the initiative said. "The struggle against this project of destruction, exploitation and hegemony continues. We call on everybody to join the Global Hasankeyf Action Day on September 14!"

Images: Hasankeyf Initiative

About the Hasankeyf dam project

The Ilısu Dam (Photo: AA)

The construction of the Ilısu Dam was included in the Southeastern Anatolia Project (GAP), a state-sponsored regional development project that has been continuing for decades, in 1982.
After the project was included in the government's investment program in 1997, protests were staged both in Turkey and in European countries where the companies who financially support the project based in. as a result, the project was stopped in 2002.

When the Ilısu project came to the fore in 2005, the construction of the dam was tried to be prevented with a stronger campaign. As a result of this, the Initiative to Keep Hasankeyf Alive emerged.

Hasankeyf and the Tigris Valley are still there as a result of the struggle of tens of civil society organizations who oppose the construction of the dam. But the process has become more difficult lately.

In 2017, seven monuments were moved from Hasankeyf. Two monuments, one of them is the famous Tigris Bridge, were covered with rocks under the guise of 'restoration'.

More than 200 caves that were dug in Neolithic Era pioneers and large parts of the valley next to the castle were filled with excavation waste.

According to statements by authorities, dam gates will be closed and the dam will begin to fill with water. If the gates are closed, Hasankeyf will be totally submerged into water within four to eight months.

Source: Hasankeyf Initiative

(PT/VK)