Letter to UK Foreign Secretary about Hasankeyf 2019-06-12 11:23:04   ANKARA - Dozens of associations, groups, academics, journalists from the UK wrote to Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt MP to express their concer about the future of Hasankeyf.     The 12,000-years site is going to be flooded when the Ilisu Dam will become operational.   Peace in Kurdistan Campaign is among the promoters of the initiative.    The full text of the letter is as follows:   Dear Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt MP,   The Ilisu Dam: a critical juncture   Over the past two decades, we have written to your predecessors on numerous occasions to express our grave concerns over the adverse environmental, social and geopolitical impacts of the Ilisu Dam on the River Tigris in Turkey, which is now nearing completion. The Turkish Government has now announced its intention to start filling the reservoir on or after 10 June 2019.   You will recall that in 2001 the UK construction company Balfour Beatty, which had been seeking UK  export credit support for the project, withdrew from the project after parliamentarians, experts and non-governmental organisations had expressed their opposition.  Since then, other EU companies have also withdrawn due to environmental, human rights, cultural heritage and other concerns.   The dam was planned without consultation with downstream states, in contravention with international customary law.  Even today, decades after construction began, there is no agreement between Turkey, Syria and Iraq on downstream flows; this despite expert reports suggesting that operation of the dam, in conjunction with a further planned project at Cizre, could reduce the flow of the Tigris during dry years to a trickle. There is a very real fear that the project could seriously jeopardizing the water supply of major Iraqi towns, and put agriculture downstream at risk. The UNESCO site of Mesopotamian Marshes in southern Iraq would be threatened with drying out due to reduced downstream flows. The potential for the dam to exacerbate existing regional conflicts, not least over water, is thus severe, a threat recognised by the FCO under previous administrations.   The dam is opposed internationally. Indeed, the announcement of the proposed filling of the reservoir caused protests in Turkey, Iraq, continental Europe and the UK. A particular focus of concern is the loss of the ancient city of Hasankeyf, a site of international historical and cultural importance whose flooding (should the reservoir be filled) would be a loss not just to the region but to humanity as a whole. The threat posed by the Ilisu Dam project prompted the World Monuments Fund to list the city on its 2008 Watch List of the 100 Most Endangered Sites in the world.   At a time when the jailed Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan is calling for a resumption of the peace process between the PKK and the Turkish Government, the filling of the reservoir is a provocation to the local Kurdish population, whose opposition to the dam is widespread.    In the interests of peace, international law and sustainable development, we would therefore urge you to use your good office to underline to the Turkey Government the extent of international concern over the project and to urge that the filling of the reservoir be put on hold  pending:   a mutual agreement with Iraq and Syria guaranteeing sufficient downstream water flows to safeguard water supplies, agriculture and ecosystems (notably the Mesopotamian Marshes) in Syria and Iraq; the outcome of a broad, participative, inclusive and transparent discussion with representatives of affected communities, both within Turkey and regionally, aimed at evolving policies for the sustainable and equitable use of the Tigris. We look forward to your response and remain available for any further information.   Yours sincerely,   The Corner House   Peace in Kurdistan   Initiative to Keep Hasankeyf Alive   The Mesopotamia Ecology Movement   Kurdistan National Congress (KNK) UK   Kurdish People’s Democratic Assembly, UK   Maxine Peake, actress   Julie Ward MEP   Jill Evans MEP   Margaret Owen OBE, barrister   Dr Radha D’Souza, University of Westminster   Dr Thomas Jeffrey Miley, Cambridge University   Dr Felix Padel, writer   Dr Derek Wall, Department of Politics and International Relations, Goldsmiths College, University of London   Janet Biehl, writer and translator   Ian Lawrence, General Secretary at Napo   Christine Blower, NEU International Secretary   Tony Burke, Assistant General Secretary, UNITE   Simon Dubbins, International Director UNITE   Matt Nathan, Campaigns Director, Freedom for Ocalan Campaign   Stephen Smellie, Deputy Convenor, UNISON Scotland   Clare Baker, UNITE International Officer   Doug Nicholls, General Secretary, General Federation of Trade Unions   Mick Wheelan, ASLEF General Secretary   Alan Mardghum, Secretary of Durham Miners Association   Manuel Cortes, General Secretary TSSA   Steve Sweeney, Intgernational Editor, Morning Star   Father Joe Ryan, Chair of Westminster Justice and Peace Commission   Dr. Isabel Käser, SOAS   Rahila Gupta, writer and journalist   Southall Black Sisters (SBS)   Barry White, NUJ member   Emily Apple, journalist, writer   Jonathan Bloch, writer   Dr Sarah Glynn, architect and academic geographer   Scottish Solidarity with Kurdistan   Paul Scholey, Morrish Solicitors   Stephen Knight, barrister, Pump Court Chambers   Dr Thomas Phillips, University of Liverpool   Terry Conway, RedGreen Labour   Bruce Kent, peace activist, CND   Dafydd Iwan, former President Plaid Cymru   Christopher Gingell, Ecologist and Archeologist   Tom Anderson, writer, Shoal Collective/The Canary   Dr Aubrey Nunes, Possible Worlds Clinic   Jonathan Steele, journalist   Lindsey German, Convenor, Stop the War Coalition   Maggie Bowden, General Secretary, Liberation   Les Levidow, Campaign Against Criminalising Communities (CAMPACC)   Saleh Mamon, CAMPACC   Kurdistan Solidarity Network   Solidarity Economy Association   Shoal Collective   Shoal Radical Writer's Collective   London Kurdish Solidarity   Plan C   Pelle Hjek, Ground in Hull   Zaher Aarif, writer and activist   John Hunt, journalist   David Morgan, journalist