Many stream beds in the region have dried up due to the dams built in 2009 on the Ortasu Stream in the Qileban (Uludere) district of Şirnex (Şırnak) on the grounds of “security”. Cracks in the 3 dams built every 10 kilometers have caused concern. Residents of Kiror, Bêjûh, Roboskî, Şiwêt and Nêrweh villages point to the water seeping through the cracks and ask for precautions to be taken against a possible disaster. 

 

Residents of Nêrweh village, which has 4 thousand inhabitants, complain about the cracks in the dam as well as frequent landslides and falling rocks. The villagers, who did not receive a positive response from the petitions submitted to the district governor's office, had started a precautionary vigil a while ago. Afterwards, AFAD teams blocked the mountain slopes with steel ropes. However, despite the steel ropes, the danger of rock falls continues. 

 

‘OUR LIVES UNDER THREAT’ 

 

Mahmut Aykut, a resident of the village, warned that if the dam collapses, many villages in the region will be flooded. Aykut said: “Water is leaking from the walls of the dam because it was not built properly. This region is in danger of being flooded. We filed a lawsuit against this. We petitioned for the evacuation of our village, but all our attempts were fruitless.” 

 

Pointing out that many of their lands were also flooded after the dam, Aykut said that there were fewer areas to graze their animals. “Because of the dam, people can no longer cultivate their lands. There is neither an area where we can graze our animals nor an area where we can cultivate our fields. We opposed the dam. We organized protests, but to no avail. More than 5 thousand people live in this region. So many people are being victimized because of this dam. Our lives are under threat” he said.  

 

LANDSLIDE DANGER

 

Aykut asked for their financial damages to be compensated and for them to be relocated to a different place and continued as follows: “Because our village is also at risk of landslides due to the dam. They changed the road here when the dam was built. Therefore, the ground was prepared for landslides. There were landslides before. Houses close to the hill were affected by the landslide.” 

 

MA / Mahmut Altıntaş