Ethics talk ditched as Labour backs Turkish dam project
JUST BEFORE CHRISTMAS, word was released that Trade Secretary Stephen Byers intended to give British government support to the Ilisu dam project in Turkey. Apparently he has support from Tony Blair.
Much was made of New Labour’s ‘ethical foreign policy, when it came to power. This project shows once again that brave words seem to have little impact in practice.
Construction on the 1200MW Ilisu dam, the largest planned hydroelectric project in Turkey, is due to start in 2000 and is expected to take 7-8 years.
Rivers
It is located on the Tigris river in Turkish Kurdistan, 65km upstream from the Syrian and Iraqi borders. The £2 billion project is part of Turkey’s South -eastern Anatolia Project
(Turkish initials ‘GAP’). GAP is a $32 billion infrastructure development programme that envisages the construction of 22 dams and 19 power plants on the Tigris and Euphrates rivers and their tributaries.
The location makes the scheme highly controversial. Turkey has long denied the existence of the Kurds as a separate nation. Abdullah Ocalan, leader of a Kurdish insurgent organisation, the PKK, was recently sentenced to death and though the death sentence has been commuted this is to curry favour with Turkey’s otherwise embarrassed Western allies rather than out of concern for human rights.
The Turkish military has destroyed villages and moved populations in Kurdistan many times before. In this context the GAP looks like a continuation of war and repression by ‘economic development’.
Any effect on the flow and ecology of the river will also cross international borders. The effect in Iraq could be devastating, while Syria also has an interest. (It will not have escaped the notice of Syrians that their state also has a dispute with Israel over water in territory occupied in 1967, even if Mr Byers is not interested).
Repression
However although Turkey has a bad record for repression of the Kurds, trade unions and the left, it has a good record in helping out the NATO powers in its wars in Iraq and Kosovo. It belongs to NATO and is standing on the doorstep of the European Union, hoping to be invited in.
British construction company Balfour Beatty is part of a multinational consortium hoping to build the dam. It is seeking a £200 million export credit for it from the UK Export Credits Guarantee Department. Two reports commissioned by the DTI have been released. Byers announced conditional approval:
"I have carefully considered both reports and I am minded to grant export credit. This will be conditional on the Turkish authorities agreeing to address the concerns we have about the environmental and the social impact of the project" he stated.
No consultation
However the official reports are actually damning of the project. They make clear that: local people are against the dam; no consultation has taken place with them; serious doubts hang over compensation; and that major environmental impacts have yet to be addressed.
Balfour Beatty has stated that the dam will displace 12-16,000 people. But official documents obtained by a KHRP delegation to the region suggest that at least 25,000 will be affected, and the DTI reports appear to suggest the numbers could be up to 36,000.
No plans
No resettlement plans have been drawn up although the project design was approved by the then military government in 1982. There are fears of further human rights abuses during relocation.
The DTI environmental report identifies three environmental impacts "which may be significant and which are not adequately addressed by studies to date."
These include effects downstream, the loss of river species, and "environmental impacts from associated and secondary developments." The reports complain that data-gathering is severely constrained by "restricted access to some of the affected area due to local security issues".
However the enthusiasm of US and now British government leaders for the project shows that concern about repression, the destruction of historic sites and the environmental impact count for little.
A better flavour of their concerns comes from the US Consul in Adana, Stuart E. Jones enthusing about "opportunities to strengthen trade and friendly relations with Turkey, especially with the South-eastern region".
He predicts "big opportunities for US business circles in many fields including agriculture, food, textile, energy and mining". He looks forward to friendly relations between the two countries.
With support like that, how could Mr Byers refuse?