“Government Needs to Rethink Water Policies”

The Istanbul Water Tribunal took place on 10 and 11 March. On Saturday, 14 March, its jury read a press statement at the Tobacco Depot in Istanbul.

The jury demanded that Turkey respect national and international legislation and agreements and fulfill their conditions. It has said that all government projects should be considered with a report on environmental effects.

The jury further called for the valleys of Hasankeyf (in the southeast of Turkey) and Yusufeli  (on the eastern Black Sea) to be added to the list of UNESCO world heritage sites. The two valleys are under threat of submersion if the planned dam projects in the area go ahead.

The press briefing was attended by Istanbul’s MP Sebahat Tuncel for the Democratic Society Party (DTP).

The tribunal had considered the cases of the Yusufeli dam porject on the Çoruh river, the Ilısu dam project on the Tigris river which would submerge the historical Hasankeyf city, as well as planned dams on the Munzur and the Euphrates rivers in the province of Tunceli. The court also discussed the mega-dam constructions on the Madeira river in the Rondonia state of Brazil, and the social and environmental effects of water projects in Mexico.

Defendants did not attend

The defendants, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Minister of Energy Hilmi Güler, Minister of the Environment Veysel Eroğlu, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and others, did not join the tribunal.

The jury was headed by actress Pelin Batu. Other members were academic Emel Kurma, Dilek Kurban from the Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation (TESEV), academic David Barkin from Mexico, prosecutor Alexandre Camanho de Assis from Brazil, publisher Silke Helfrich from Germany, and political advisor Maurits Groen from the Netherlands.

The jury made the following demands:

• The Turkish government must go beyond economic parametres when considering projects. Benefits-costs analyses must also include social, cultural and ecological factors.
• The government must reconsider its water and energy policies. It should consult NGOs and the local people affectd by dam projects.
• The government should develop policies of sustainability which also take into account human rights and freedoms, biological diversity and natural and cultural heritage sites.
• Article 89 of the Law on Public Tender should be abolished, as it offers the posibility of violating laws if national security is concerned.

Ulrike Dufner, a member of the association, spoke after the press statement, saying: “Turkish governments have always been victims to a dam fetishism. Building one dam after the other is a meaninless policy from  economic, social and ecological perspectives and cannot be rationalised.” (BÇ/AG)